UC-NRLF 


B    M    DTfl    ISM 


/  .  -f.  v.    >,  ,  -  A 


THE 

ORIEL  WINDOW 


EDUCATION  LIBR. 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

Education 

GIFT  OF 

Louise  Farrow  Barr 


THE  ORIEL  WINDOW 


THE- ORIEL 
WINDOW 

BY-MRS - 

MOLESWORTH 


ILLVSTRATED-BY 
L-LESLE-BROOKE 


MACMILLAN-GO. 
NEW-YORK-1596 


COPYRIGHT,  1896, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Education 
GIFT 


Norfoootf 

J.  S.  Cushing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith 
Norwood  Mast.  U.S.A. 


PZ.7 


AMY   AND    AKTHUE 

MY  MUCH-ESTEEMED  OPPOSITE  NEIGHBOURS 


19  SUMNEE  PLACE,  S.W., 
June,  1896. 


314 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   I 
A  HAPPY  WAKING  . 

CHAPTER  II 
THE  PEACOCK'S  CRY  ...       17 

CHAPTER  III 
A  STRANGE  BIRTHDAY    .  ...      35 

CHAPTER  IV 
WHAT  THE  SWALLOWS  THOUGHT  OF  IT  .       53 

CHAPTER  V 
JESSE  PIGGOT   .  ...      69 

CHAPTER  VI 
A  FAIRY  TALE  —  AND  THOUGHTS 79 

CHAPTER  VH 

AN  UNEXPECTED  PIG'S  HEAD  .        .100 

vii 


Vlll  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   VIII 

PAGE 

WELCOME  VISITORS 119 

CHAPTER  IX 
"  MY  PUPILS  "  .         .         ...        .        .        .        .137 

CHAPTER    X 
TAKING  REFUGE       ........     159 

CHAPTER  XI 
UNDER  THE  SOFA     .         .         .         ...        .         .     175 

CHAPTER  XII 
ANOTHER  BIRTHDAY  .         .        .         .        .     189 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

OFF  FERDY  WENT  AGAIN,  A  LITTLE  BIT  FASTER   THIS 

TIME 26 

"  WHAT  is  IT,  DEAR  ?     DID  YOU  CALL  ME  ?  M        .         .      46 
TOOK  HER  BACK  TO  COURT  IN  HER  OWN  CHARIOT         .      84: 

"I'VE    DONE    'EM    BEFORE    FROM    ONE    OF    THE    OLD 

SQUEAKERS  UP  AT  THE  FARM  "  103 

WATCHING  THE  SWEET  SUMMER  SUNSET         .        .        .     116 

"  WE  WORKS  IN  A  SHED  THERE,  IN  A  FIELD  BY  THE 

SMITHY  .  .  .  AND  WE'RE  AS  JOLLY  AS  SAND-BOYS  "  .     155 

"  STEP  DOWNSTAIRS,   IF  YOU   PLEASE,  AND  THEN  I'LL 

HEAR  WHAT  YOU'VE  GOT  TO  SAY"  ....     178 
ix 


THE    ORIEL   WINDOW 

CHAPTER   I 

A   HAPPY   WAKING 

I  DO  not  think  you  could  anywhere  have  found 
a  happier  little  boy  than  Ferdy  Ross  when  he 
woke  on  the  morning  of  his  ninth  birthday. 

He  was  always  —  at  least  almost  always  —  happy, 
and  he  had  good  reason  for  being  so.  He  had 
everything  that  children  need  to  make  life  bright 
and  joyous:  kind  parents,  a  dear  sister,  a  pretty 
home,  and,  best  of  all,  a  loving,  trusting,  sunshiny 
nature,  which  made  it  easy  for  him  to  be  very 
happy  and  loving,  and  made  it  easy  too  for  others 
to  love  him  in  return  and  to  feel  pleasure  in 
being  with  him.  But  to-day,  his  birthday,  the 
fourteenth  of  May,  he  was  very  particularly,  de- 
lightfully happy. 

What  a  very  long  time  it  seemed  that  he  and 
Chrissie  had  been  looking  forward  to  it !  Ever 


2  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

since  Christmas,  or  New  Year  at  least.  That  was 
how  he  and  Chrissie  had  settled  to  do  about  their 
lockings-forwards.  Chrissie's  birthday  was  in  Sep- 
tember. She  was  a  year  and  four  months  older 
than  Ferdy,  so  it  fitted  in  very  well.  As  soon  as 
her  birthday  was  over  they  began  the  Christmas 
counting,  and  this  in  one  way  was  the  biggest  of 
all  the  year,  for  their  father's  and  mother's  birth- 
days both  came  in  Christmas  week,  and  it  had 
been  found  very  convenient  to  "keep"  them  and 
Christmas  Day  together.  So  Christmas  Day  at 
Evercombe  Watch  House,  which  was  Ferdy's 
home,  was  a  very  important  day  for  more  reasons 
than  the  great  Christmas  reasons  which  we  all 
join  in. 

And  then  when  Christmas  time  was  over  and 
Ferdy  and  Christine  began  to  feel  a  little  dull 
and  unsettled,  as  children  are  pretty  sure  to  do 
after  a  great  deal  of  pleasure  and  fun,  there  was 
Ferdy's  birthday  to  think  of  and  prepare  for ;  for 
it  was  not  only  just  looking  forward  and  counting 
the  days,  or  rather  the  months  first,  and  then  the 
weeks  and  then  the  days  to  their  "treat"  times, 
that  they  divided  the  seasons  into ;  there  were 


A    HAPPY   WAKING  3 

separate  and  different  things  to  do,  according  to 
which  of  the  three  parts  of  the  year  it  was.  For 
Christmas,  of  course,  there  was  the  most  to  do  — 
all  the  little  things  to  get  ready  for  the  Christmas 
tree  as  well  as  the  presents  for  papa  and  mamma 
and  lots  of  other  people.  And  for  Ferdy's  birth- 
day Chrissie  had  always  to  make  something  which 
had  to  be  done  in  secret,  so  that  he  should  not 
know  what  it  was;  and  for  Chrissie's  birthday  it 
was  Ferdy's  turn  to  prepare  some  delightful  sur- 
prise for  her.  He  was  very  clever  at  making 
things,  even  though  he  was  a  boy!  He  was  what 
is  called  "  neat-handed,"  and  as  this  little  story  goes 
on,  you  will  see  what  a  good  thing  it  was  that  he 
had  got  into  the  way  of  amusing  himself  and 
using  part  of  his  playtime  in  carrying  out  some 
of  his  inventions  and  ideas. 

"I  don't  know  how  I  should  bear  it,  Ferdy," 
Christine  used  to  say  sometimes,  "if  you  were  one 
of  those  tiresome  boys  that  do  nothing  but  fidget 
and  tease  their  sisters  when  they  want  to  sit  still 
and  work  quietly  for  their  dolls.  Just  think  of 
Marcia  Payne  now.  These  two  horrible  boys,  Ted 
and  Eustace,  think  there  is  nothing  so  nice  as  to 


4  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

snatch  away  her  work  and  throw  it  into  the 
fire  or  out  of  the  window,  or  to  nearly  kill  her 
poor  dolls  with  their  cruel  tricks.  I  really  don't 
know  how  poor  Marcia  ever  gets  their  clothes 
made,  for  it  takes  all  my  time  to  keep  my  chil- 
dren tidy,  even  though  you  never  worry  me," 
and  Chrissie  sighed,  for  she  was  a  very  anxious- 
minded  doll-mother. 

Ferdy's  presents  to  his  sister  were  very  often 
for  her  dolls,  rather  than  for  herself,  though,  like 
most  mothers,  it  pleased  her  much  more,  she  used 
to  say,  for  her  dear  pets  to  be  kindly  treated  than 
any  attention  to  their  little  mamma  could  do. 

She  was  very  amusing  about  her  dolls.  She 
used  to  talk  about  them  in  such  an  "old- 
fashioned  "  way  that  if  any  grown-up  person  had 
overheard  her,  I  think  they  would  have  laughed 
heartily.  But  Chrissie  took  care  to  keep  all 
private  conversation  about  her  four  girls  and  two 
sons  for  herself  and  Ferdy  only. 

Besides  these  Ug  dolls,  she  had  a  large  party  of 
tiny  ones  who  lived  in  the  doll  house,  and  I  think 
Ferdy's  prettiest  presents  were  for  this  miniature 
family.  These  small  people  really  were  almost  as 


A   HAPPY   WAKING  5 

much  his  as  Chrissie's,  for  he  took  the  greatest 
interest  in  them,  especially  in  their  house  and 
their  carriages  and  horses  and  in  all  kinds  of 
wonderful  things  he  had  made  for  them.  Several 
of  the  doll-house  rooms  were  entirely  furnished 
by  him,  and  he  was  builder  and  paper-hanger  and 
cabinet-maker  and  upholsterer  for  Doll  Hall,  all  in 
one.  But  now  I  think  I  must  return  to  the 
history  of  his  ninth  birthday. 

The  fourteenth  of  May  —  just  about  the  middle 
of  the  month  which  is  the  best  loved,  I  almost 
think,  of  all  the  twelve.  And  oh  it  was  such  a 
lovely  day!  Ferdy  woke  early  —  though  not  quite 
as  early  as  he  had  meant  to  do,  for  when  he  bade 
his  sister  good-night  he  told  her  he  would  be  sure 
to  knock  at  her  door  not  later  than  five.  But  the 
sun  was  a  good  way  up  in  the  sky  when  he  did 
wake  —  so  far  up  indeed  that  Ferdy  got  quite  a 
fright  that  he  had  overslept  himself  altogether, 
and  it  was  a  relief  to  see  by  the  old  clock  which 
stood  on  the  landing  just  outside  his  door  that  it 
was  only  half -past  six. 

"  And  after  all,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  now  I 
come  to  think  of  it,  I  don't  believe  mamma  would 


b  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

have  liked  me  to  wake  Chris  so  very  early.  I 
remember  last  year,  on  her  birthday,  she  had  a 
headache  and  was  quite  tired  by  the  afternoon  with 
having  got  up  so  soon." 

He  rubbed  his  eyes,  —  to  tell  the  truth  he  was 
still  rather  sleepy  himself,  though  it  was  his  birth- 
day, —  and  downstairs  he  heard  the  servants  moving 
about  and  brushing  the  carpets.  The  schoolroom 
would  certainly  not  be  in  order  just  yet;  it  never 
took  him  very  long  to  have  his  bath  and  dress, 
and  he  knew  by  experience  that  housemaids  are 
not  the  most  amiable  of  human  beings  when  little 
boys  get  in  their  way  in  the  middle  of  their, 
cleanings  and  dustings. 

So  on  the  whole  Ferdy  decided  that  the  best 
thing  to  do  was  to  go  back  to  bed  again  and  not 
get  up  till  Flowers  —  Flowers  was  Chrissie's  maid, 
and  she  looked  after  Ferdy  too,  since  nurse  had 
left  to  be  married  —  came  to  wake  him  at  his 
usual  time,  for  he  could  hear  no  sound  of  any 
kind  in  his  sister's  room,  though  he  listened  well, 
outside  the  door. 

It  was  very  comfortable  in  bed,  for  May  morn- 
ings, however  lovely,  are  often  chilly.  And  as 


A   HAPPY    WAKING  7 

Ferdy  lay  there  he  could  see  out  of  the  window, 
and  enjoy  the  sight  of  the  clear  bright  sunshine 
and  the  trees  moving  softly  in  the  wind,  their 
leaves  glittering  green  and  gold,  and  even  silver, 
as  the  gentle  breeze  fluttered  them  about.  The 
birds  too,  they  were  up  and  about  of  course;  now 
and  then  there  came  quite  a  flight  of  them,  and 
then  one  solitary  soarer  would  cross  the  blue  sky  up 
at  the  very  top  of  the  window  —  he  would  see  it 
for  half  a  moment,  and  then  it  disappeared  again. 
On  the  whole,  he  had  more  view  of  sky  than  of 
anything  else  from  his  bed,  though  when  standing 
by  the  window  he  could  see  a  good  long  way  down 
the  road,  and,  by  craning  his  neck  a  little,  some 
way  across  the  fields  past  the  church. 

For  the  Watch  House  stood  at  the  very  end  of 
the  village,  near  the  church,  so  that  strangers  often 
thought  it  must  be  the  Vicarage,  and  envied  the 
vicar  for  having  such  a  charming  home,  whereas 
the  real  Vicarage  was  a  pretty  but  small  cottage- 
like  house,  quite  at  the  other  side  of  the  church, 
and  not  nearly  as  old  as  it  was,  or  as  the  Watch 
House  was. 

j£,  Ferdy 's  home,  was  very,  very  old.      And  the 


8  THE   ORIEL    WINDOW 

story  went  that  long  ago  some  part  of  it  had 
really  been  a  kind  of  watch  tower,  though  there 
was  nothing  remaining  to  show  this  except  the 
name  and  the  fact  that  you  could,  from  the  upper 
windows  especially,  see  a  very  long  way.  The 
nicest  window  of  all  was  one  in  Mrs.  Ross's  own 
sitting-room,  or  "boudoir,"  as  it  was  sometimes 
called.  This  was  a  corner  room  on  the  floor  just 
below  the  children's,  and  the  beauty  of  it  was  this 
window,  —  an  oriel  window,  —  projecting  beyond 
the  wall,  as  such  windows  do,  and  so  exactly  at 
the  corner  that  you  could  see,  so  to  say,  three 
ways  at  once  when  you  were  standing  in  it:  right 
down  the  village  street  to  begin  with,  and  down 
the  short  cross-road  which  led  to  the  church,  and 
then  over  the  fields  between  the  two,  to  where 
Farmer  Meare's  duckpond  jutted  out  into  the  lane 
—  "the  primrose  lane"  —  as  not  only  Ferdy  and 
Christine  but  all  the  children  of  the  neighbour- 
hood had  long  ago  named  it.  For  here  the  first 
primroses  were  always  to  be  found,  year  after 
year;  they  never  forgot  to  smile  up  punctually 
with  their  little  bright  pale  faces  before  you  could 
see  them  anywhere  else.  Chrissie  sometimes  sus- 


A    HAPPY    WAKING  9 

pected  that  the  fairies  had  a  hand  in  it.  Every- 
body knows  that  the  good  people  "  favour  "  certain 
spots  more  than  others,  and  perhaps  Chrissie's  idea 
was  right. 

Any  way  this  oriel  window  was  a  charming 
watch  tower.  Ferdy  always  said  that  when  he 
grew  to  be  a  man  he  would  build  a  house  with 
an  oriel  window  at  each  corner. 

But  again  I  am  wandering  from  the  morning  of 
Ferdy's  birthday,  when  he  lay  in  bed  wide  awake 
and  gazed  at  as  much  as  he  could  see  of  the  out- 
side world,  that  lovely  May  morning. 

It  was  lovely,  and  everything  alive  seemed  to 
be  thinking  so,  as  well  as  the  little  hero  of  the 
day  —  birds,  trees,  blossoms  —  even  the  insects  that 
were  beginning  to  find  out  that  the  warm  days 
were  coming,  for  a  great  fat  blue-bottle  was  hum- 
ming away  with  the  loud  summery  hum  which  is 
the  only  nice  thing  about  blue-bottles,  I  think. 
And  not  always  nice  either  perhaps,  to  tell  the 
truth.  If  one  is  busy  learning  some  difficult 
lesson,  or  adding  up  long  columns  of  figures,  a 
blue-bottle's  buzz  is  rather  distracting.  But  this 
morning  it  was  all  right,  seeming  to  give  just  the 


10  THE  OKIEL  WINDOW 

touch  of  summer  sound  which  was  wanting  to  the 
perfection  of  Kerdy's  happiness  as  IK;  l;i,y  there, 
rather  lazily,  I  am  afraid  we  must  confess  —  a  little 
sleepy  still  perhaps. 

What  a  nice  beautiful  place  the  world  is,  ho 
thought  to  himself  I  How  can  people  grumble  at 
anything  when  the  sun  shines  and  everything 
seems  so  happy  I  In  winter  perhaps  —  well,  yes, 
in  winter,  when  it  is  very  cold  and  grey,  there 
mit/ht  bo  something  to  be  said  on  the  other  side, 
even  though  winter  to  such  as  Ferdy  brings  its 
own  delights  too.  But  in  summer  even  the  poor 
people  should  he  happy;  their  cottages  do  look  so 
pretty,  almost  prettier  than  big  houses,  with  the 
nice  little  gardens  in  front,  and  roses  and  honey- 
suckle and  traveller's  joy  climbing  all  over  the 
walls  and  peeping  in  at  the  windows.  Ferdy  did 
not  think  he  would  at  all  mind  living  in  a  cot- 
tage, for  Evercombe  was  a  remarkably  pretty  vil- 
lage, and  to  all  outside  appearance  the  cottages 
were  very  neat  and  often  picturesque,  and  the 
children  had  never  been  inside  any.  except  a  lew 
of  the  clean  and  nicely  kept  ones,  where  their 
mother  knew  that  the  people  were  good  and  re- 


A   HAPPY   WAKING  11 

spectable.  So  they  had  little  idea  as  yet  of  the 
discomfort  and  misery  that  may  be  found  in  some 
cottage  homes  even  in  the  prettiest  villages,  though 
their  father  and  mother  knew  this  well,  and  meant 
that  Ferdy  and  Christine  should  take  their  part 
before  long  in  trying  to  help  those  in  need  of 
comfort  or  advice. 

"I  suppose,"  Ferdy  went  on  thinking  to  himself 
—  for  once  he  got  an  idea  in  his  head  he  had 
rather  a  trick  of  working  it  out — "I  suppose  there 
are  some  people  who  are  really  unhappy  —  poor 
people,  who  live  in  ugly  dirty  towns  perhaps,"  and 
then  his  memory  strayed  to  a  day  last  year  when 
he  had  driven  with  his  father  through  the  grim- 
looking  streets  of  a  mining  village  some  distance 
from  Evercombe.  "That  must  be  horrid.  I  won- 
der any  one  lives  there !  Or  very  old  people  who 
can't  run  about  or  scarcely  walk,  and  who  are 
quite  deaf  and  nearly  blind.  Yes,  they  can't  feel 
very  happy.  And  yet  they  do  sometimes.  There's 
papa's  old,  old  aunt;  she  seems  as  happy  as  any- 
thing, and  yet  I  should  think  she's  nearly  a  hun- 
dred, for  she's  grandpapa's  aunt.  She's  not  blind 
though;  her  eyes  are  quite  bright  and  smily,  and 


12  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

she's  not  so  very  deaf.  And  then  she's  not  poor. 
Perhaps  if  she  was  very  poor  —  '  but  no,  another 
aged  friend  came  into  his  mind  —  old  Barley,  who 
lived  with  his  already  old  daughter  in  the  smallest 
and  poorest  cottage  Ferdy  had  ever  been  in. 

"And  he's  quite  happy  too,"  thought  the  little 
boy,  "and  so's  poor  Betsey,  though  she  can't 
scarcely  walk,  'cos  of  her  rheumatism.  It  is  rather 
funny  that  they  are  happy.  The  worst  of  all 
would  be  to  be  lame,  I  think  —  'cept  p'r'aps  being 
blind.  Oh  dear!  I  am  glad  I'm  not  old,  or  lame, 
or  blind,  or  things  like  that.  But  I  say,  I  do  be- 
lieve the  clock's  striking  seven,  and  —  oh,  there's 
Flowers !  I  might  have  run  in  to  see  Chrissie 
just  for  a  minute  or  two  first  if  I  hadn't  got 
thinking.  I  — "  but  then  came  an  interruption. 

An  eager  tap  at  the  door,  —  not  Flowers's  tap  he 
knew  at  once,  —  and  in  reply  to  his  as  eager 
"Come  in"  a  rush  of  little  bare  feet  across  the 
floor,  and  Chrissie's  arms  round  his  neck  in  a  real 
birthday  hug. 

"Flowers  is  just  coming.  I  meant  to  wake  so 
early.  I've  brought  your  present  —  mine's  always 
the  first,  isn't  it,  darling  ?  " 


A  HAPPY   WAKING  13 

And  Chrissie  settled  herself  at  the  foot  of  the 
bed,  curling  up  her  cold  toes,  and  drawing  her 
pink  flannel  dressing-gown  more  closely  round  her 
that  she  might  sit  there  in  comfort  and  regale 
her  eyes  on  her  brother's  delight  as  he  carefully 
undid  the  many  papers  in  which  her  present  to 
him  was  enfolded. 

It  was  a  very  pretty  present,  and  Ferdy's  natu- 
ral good  taste  knew  how  to  admire  it,  as  his 
affectionate  heart  knew  how  to  feel  grateful  to 
Chrissie  for  the  real  labour  she  had  bestowed 
upon  it.  "  It "  was  a  writing-case,  embroidered  in 
silks  of  many  lovely  shades,  and  with  a  twisted 
monogram  of  Ferdy's  initials  — "F.  W.  R."  — 
"  Ferdinand  Walter  Ross "  -  worked  in  gold 
threads  in  the  centre  of  the  cover.  It  was  a  very 
good  piece  of  work  indeed  for  a  little  girl  of 
Chrissie's  age,  and  promised  well  for  her  skill  and 
perseverance  in  days  to  come.  Ferdy's  eyes  spar- 
kled with  pleasure.  "  Oh,  Chrissie,"  he  said, 
"  you've  never  made  me  anything  quite  as  pretty 
as  this !  How  clever  you  are  getting,  and  how 
did  you  manage  to  work  it  all  without  my  see- 
ing?" 


14  THE   ORIEL    WINDOW 

"It  was  rather  difficult,"  said  Chrissie,  with 
satisfaction  in  her  tone.  "  Ever  so  many  times 
I  had  to  bundle  it  away  just  as  I  heard  you 
coming.  And  do  you  know,  Ferdy,  it's  a  very 
ancient  pattern  —  no,  pattern  isn't  the  word  I 
mean." 

"  Design  ?  "  said  Ferdy.  He  knew  some  words  of 
this  kind  better  than  Chrissie,  as  he  was  so  often 
planning  and  copying  carved  wood  and  brasswork 
and  such  things. 

"Yes,  that's  what  I  mean  —  it's  a  very  ancient 
design.  Miss  Lilly  drew  it  for  me  from  an  old 
book-cover  somebody  lent  her,  and  she  helped  me 
to  arrange  the  colours.  I  am  so  pleased  you  like 
it,  Ferdy,  darling.  I  liked  doing  it  because  it  was 
such  pretty  work,  but  if  it  hadn't  been  a  present 
for  you,  I  think  I  would  have  got  tired  of  it  —  it 
was  rather  fiddly  sometimes.  And  after  working 
ever,  ever  so  long,  I  didn't  seem  to  have  done 
hardly  any." 

"I  know,"  said  Ferdy  thoughtfully.  "I  think 
that's  always  the  way  with  any  really  nice  work. 
You  can't  scurry  it  up.  And  it  wouldn't  be  worth 
anything  if  you  could." 


A   HAPPY   WAKING  15 

But  just  then  there  came  a  tap  at  the  door,  and 
Flowers's  voice  sounding  rather  reproachful. 

"  Miss  Chrissie,"  she  said,  "  I  couldn't  think  where 
you'd  gone  to.  I  do  hope  you've  got  your  dressing- 
gown  and  slippers  on,  or  you  will  be  sure  to  catch 
cold." 

UA11  right,  Flowers,"  said  Chrissie,  "I'm  quite 
warm;"  and  as  the  maid  caught  sight  of  the  little 
pink-flannelled  figure  her  face  cleared,  for,  fortu- 
nately for  her  peace  of  mind,  the  pink  toes  were 
discreetly  curled  up  out  of  sight. 

Who  could  expect  a  little  girl  to  remember  to 
put  on  her  slippers  on  her  brother's  birthday  morn- 
ing, when  she  had  been  dreaming  all  night  of  the 
lovely  present  she  had  got  for  him? 

"Many  happy  returns  of  the  day,  Master  Ferdy, 
my  dear,"  Flowers  went  on,  growing  rather  red, 
"and  will  you  please  accept  a  very  trifling  present 
from  me?" 

She  held  out  a  little  parcel  as  she  spoke.  It  con- 
tained a  boy's  "housewife,"  if  you  ever  saw  such  a 
thing.  It  was  neatly  made  of  leather,  and  held 
needles  of  different  sizes,  strong  sewing  cotton  and 
thread,  various  kinds  of  useful  buttons,  a  sturdy 


16  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

little  pair  of  scissors,  pins,  black  and  white,  small 
and  large,  and  several  other  things  such  as  a  school- 
boy might  be  glad  to  find  handy  now  and  then. 

"  Mother  always  gives  one  to  my  brothers  when 
they  leave  home,"  said  the  maid,  "  and  I  thought  as 
no  doubt  Master  Ferdy  will  be  going  to  school 
some  day  —  " 

"It's  capital,  Flowers,"  Ferdy  interrupted;  "thank 
you  ever  so  much;  it's  first-rate.  I  needn't  wait 
till  I  go  to  school  to  use  it.  It's  just  the  very 
thing  I'm  sure  to  want  when  I  go  yachting  with 
papa  next  summer — this  summer  —  in  uncle's  yacht. 
It's  capital!" 

And  Flowers,  who  had  not  been  very  long  at 
the  Watch  House,  and  had  felt  rather  uncertain 
as  to  how  her  gift  would  suit  the  young  gentle- 
man's taste,  smiled  all  over  with  pleasure. 

Master  Ferdy  had  certainly  a  very  nice  way  with 
him,  she  thought  to  herself. 

"Miss  Christine,"  she  said  aloud,  "you  really  must 
come  and  get  dressed,  or  instead  of  being  ready 
earlier  than  usual,  you'll  be  ever  so  much  later." 

And  Chrissie  jumped  down  from  the  bed  and 
went  off  to  her  own  quarters. 


CHAPTER   II 
THE  PEACOCK'S  CRY 

HALF  an  hour  or  so  later  the  children  met 
again,  and  together  made  their  way  downstairs 
to  the  dining-room,  Ferdy  carefully  carrying  his 
presents,  which  had  been  increased  by  that  of  a  nice 
big  home-made  cake  from  cook,  and  a  smart  little 
riding-whip  from  two  or  three  of  the  other  servants. 

Papa  and  mamma  had  not  yet  made  their  appear- 
ance ;  it  was  barely  half-past  eight. 

Ferdy's  eyes  and  Chrissie's  too  wandered  inquir- 
ingly round  the  room.  Neither  knew  or  had  any 
sort  of  idea  what  the  present  of  the  day  —  their 
parents'  —  was  to  be.  Many  wonderings  had  there 
been  about  it,  for  Mrs.  Ross  had  smiled  in  a  very 
mysterious  way  once  or  twice  lately,  when  some- 
thing had  been  said  about  Ferdy's  birthday,  and 
the  children  had  half  expected  to  see  some  veiled 
package  on  the  sideboard  or  in  a  corner  of  the 

room,  ready  for  the  right  moment, 
c  17 


18  THE    ORIEL   WINDOW 

But  everything  looked  much  as  usual,  except 
that  there  was  a  lovely  bouquet  of  flowers  —  hot- 
house flowers,  the  gardener's  best  —  beside  Ferdy's 
plate. 

"  Oh,  I  say  !  "  he  exclaimed,  as  he  took  it  up  and 
sniffed  it  approvingly,  "what  a  good  humour  Fer- 
guson must  be  in  to  have  given  me  these  very 
best  flowers.  Why,  he  doesn't  even  like  mamma 
herself  to  cut  these  big  begonias.  They  are  splen- 
diferous, aren't  they,  Chris  ?  I  shall  take  one  out 
for  a  button-hole,  and  wear  it  all  day.  But  oh, 
Chrissie,  I  do  wonder  what  papa's  and  mamma's 
present  is  going  to  be  —  don't  you?" 

"I  should  just  think  I  did,"  his  sister  replied. 
"  I  haven't  the  very  least  inch  of  an  idea  this  time, 
and  generally,  before,  I  have  had  some.  It  isn't 
in  this  room,  any  way." 

"No,  I  expect  it's  some  little  thing,  something 
mamma  has  kept  safe  in  a  drawer,  a  pair  of  gold 
sleeve-links,  or,  or  —  no,  not  a  writing-case,  for 
she'd  know  about  yours.  P'r'aps  a  pocket  micro- 
scope or  some  book." 

"  Would  you  like  any  of  those  ?  "  asked  Chrissie. 

"I'd   like  anything,  I   think.     At   least   I   mean 


THE  PEACOCK'S  CRY  19 

papa  and  mamma'd  be  sure  to  give  me  something 
nice.  Of  course,  the  present  of  presents  would 
be  —  " 

uWe  fixed  not  to  speak  about  it,  don't  you  re- 
member ? "  said  his  sister  quickly.  "  It's  a  bad 
habit  to  get  into,  that  of  fancying  too  much  about 
impossible  things  you'd  like  to  have." 

"  But  this  wouldn't  be  quite  an  impossible  thing," 
said  Ferdy.  "  I  may  get  it  some  day,  and  one 
reason  I  want  it  so  is  that  it  would  be  just  as 
nice  for  you  as  for  me,  you  see,  Chris." 

"I  know,"  said  Christine.  "Well  no,  it's  not 
a  couldn't-possibly-ever-be  thing,  like  the  magic 
carpet  we  planned  so  about  once,  or  the  table 
with  lovely  things  to  eat  on  it,  that  there's  the 
fairy  story  about,  though  I  always  think  that's 
rather  a  greedy  sort  of  story  —  don't  you?" 

"Not  if  you  were  awfully  hungry,  and  the  boy 
in  that  story  was,  you  know,"  said  Ferdy.  "But  I 
didn't  mean  quite  impossible  in  a  fairy  magic  way. 
I  mean  that  papa  and  mamma  might  do  it  some 
day,  and  it's  rather  been  put  into  my  head  this 
morning  by  this,"  and  he  touched  the  riding- 
whip.  "  It's  far  too  good  for  Jerry,  or  for  any 


20  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

donkey,  isn't  it  ?  I  shall  put  it  away  till  I 
have  a  —  " 

Chrissie  placed  her  hand  on  his  mouth. 

"Don't  say  it,"  she  said.  "It's  much  better 
not,  after  we  fixed  we  wouldn't." 

"  Very  well,"  said  Ferdy  resignedly.  "  I  won't 
if  you'd  rather  I  didn't.  Now  let  us  think  over 
what  it  really  will  be,  most  likely.  A  — 

But  no  other  guess  was  to  be  put  in  words,  for 
just  then  came  the  well-known  voices. 

"Ferdy,  my  boy"  —  "Dear  little  man,"  as  his 
father  and  mother  came  in.  "  Many,  many  happy 
returns  of  your  birthday,"  they  both  said  together, 
stooping  to  kiss  him. 

"And  see  what  Chrissie  has  given  me,  and 
Flowers,  and  cook,  and  the  others ! "  exclaimed 
the  boy,  holding  out  his  gifts  for  admiration. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ross  looked  at  each  other  and 
smiled.  Neither  of  them  had  anything  in  the 
shape  of  a  parcel  big  or  little.  Ferdy  and  Chris- 
tine felt  more  and  more  puzzled. 

"  They  are  charming  presents,  dear,"  said  Mrs. 
Ross,  "  and  ours  —  papa's  and  mine  —  is  quite  ready. 
How  are  you  going  to  do  about  it,  Walter?" 


THE  PEACOCK'S  CRY  21 

"  We  had  better  have  prayers  first,"  Ferdy's 
father- replied.  "And  —  yes,  breakfast  too,  I  think, 
and  then  —  " 

In  their  own  minds  both  Ferdy  and  Christine 
thought  they  would  not  be  able  to  eat  much 
breakfast  while  on  the  tenter-hooks  of  curiosity. 
But  kind  as  their  father  was,  he  had  a  way  of 
meaning  what  he  said,  and  they  had  learned  not 
to  make  objections.  And,  after  all,  they  did  man- 
age to  get  through  a  very  respectable  meal,  partly 
perhaps  because  the  breakfast  was  particularly 
tempting  that  morning,  and  mamma  was  particularly 
anxious  that  the  children  should  do  justice  to  it. 

Nice  as  it  was,  however,  it  came  to  an  end  in 
due  time,  and  then,  though  they  said  nothing,  the 
children's  faces  showed  what  was  in  their  minds, 
Chrissie  looking  nearly  as  eager  as  her  brother. 

"  Now,"  said  Mr.  Ross,  taking  out  his  watch,  "  I 
have  just  half  an  hour  before  I  must  start.  Leila," 
—  "Leila"  was  mamma's  "girl  name"  as  Chrissie 
called  it,  —  "  Leila,  you  keep  these  two  young  peo- 
ple quietly  in  here  for  five  minutes  by  the  clock. 
Then  all  three  of  you  come  round  to  the  porch, 
but  Ferdy  must  shut  his  eyes  —  tight,  do  you 


22  THE  ORIEL   WINDOW 

hear,  young  man  ?  Mother  and  Chrissie  will  lead 
you,  and  I  will  meet  you  at  the  front  door." 

Did  ever  five  minutes  pass  so  slowly?  More 
than  once  the  children  thought  that  the  clock 
must  really  have  stopped,  or  that  something  ex- 
traordinary had  happened  to  its  hands,  in  spite 
of  the  ticking  going  on  all  right.  But  at 
last- 

"We  may  go  now,"  said  mamma.  "Shut  your 
eyes,  my  boy.  Now,  Chris,  you  take  one  hand  and 
I'll  take  the  other.  You  won't  open  your  eyes  till 
papa  tells  you,  will  you,  Ferdy?" 

"No,  no,  I  promise,"  said  Ferdy. 

But  his  mother  looked  at  him  a  little  anxiously. 
His  little  face  was  pale  with  excitement  and  his 
breath  came  fast.  Yet  he  was  not  at  all  a  delicate 
child,  and  he  had  never  been  ill  in  his  life. 

'Dear  Ferdy,"  she  said  gently,  "don't  work 
yourself  up  so." 

Ferdy  smiled. 

"  No,  mamma,"  he  replied,  though  his  voice  trem- 
bled a  little.  "  It  is  only  —  something  we've  tried 
not  to  think  about,  haven't  we,  Chrissie  ?  Oh," 
he  went  on,  turning  to  his  sister,  and  speaking 


THE  PEACOCK'S  CRY  23 

almost  in  a  whisper,  "do  you  think  it  can  be  —  you 
know  what?" 

Christine  squeezed  the  hand  she  held;  that  was 
all  she  could  reply.  Though  her  face  had  got  pink 
instead  of  pale  like  Ferdy's,  she  was  almost  as 
"  worked  up  "  as  he  was. 

There  was  not  long  to  wait,  however.  Another 
moment  and  they  were  all  three  standing  in  the 
porch,  and  though  Ferdy's  eyes  were  still  most 
tightly  and  honourably  shut,  there  scarcely  needed 
papa's  "  Now,"  or  the  "  Oh ! "  which  in  spite  of 
herself  escaped  his  sister,  to  reveal  the  delightful 
secret.  For  his  ears  had  caught  certain  tell-tale 
sounds :  a  sort  of  "  champing,"  and  a  rustle  or 
scraping  of  the  gravel  on  the  drive  which  fitted  in 
wonderfully  with  the  idea  which  his  brain  was  full 
of,  though  he  had  honestly  tried  to  follow  his 
sister's  advice  and  not  "  think  about  it." 

What  was  the  "  it "  ? 

A  pony  —  the  most  beautiful  pony,  or  so  he 
seemed  to  Ferdy  and  Christine  at  any  rate  —  that 
ever  was  seen.  There  he  stood,  his  bright  brown 
coat  gleaming  in  the  May  sunshine,  his  eager  but 
kindly  eyes  looking  as  if  they  took  it  all  in  as  he 


24  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

rubbed  his  nose  on  Mr.  Ross's  coat-sleeve  and 
twisted  about  a  little,  as  if  impatient  to  be  intro- 
duced to  his  new  master. 

"  Papa,  mamma  ! "  gasped  Ferdy,  with  a  sort  of 
choke  in  his  throat,  and  for  a  moment  —  what  with 
the  delight,  and  the  sudden  opening  of  his  eyes  in 
the  strong  clear  sunshine  —  he  felt  half  dazed. 
"  Papa,  mamma,  a  pony  of  my  very  own !  And 
Chrissie  can  ride  him  too.  He  is  a  pony  a  girl 
can  ride  too,  isn't  he  ? "  with  a  touch  of  anxiety. 

"  He  is  very  gentle,  and  he  has  no  vices  at  all," 
said  his  father.  "  I  am  quite  sure  Chrissie  will  be 
able  to  ride  him  too.  But  you  must  get  to  know 
him  well  in  the  first  place." 

Ferdy  was  out  on  the  drive  by  this  time,  his 
face  rosy  with  delight,  as  he  stood  by  his 
father  patting  and  petting  the  pretty  creature. 
The  pony  was  all  saddled  and  bridled,  ready  for 
Ferdy  to  mount  and  ride  "over  the  hills  and  far 
away."  The  boy  glanced  up  at  Mr.  Ross,  an  un- 
spoken request  trembling  on  his  lips. 

"  Yes,"  said  his  father,  seeing  it  there  and  smil- 
ing. "Yes,  you  may  mount  him  and  ride  up  and 
down  a  little.  He'll  be  all  right,"  he  added,  turn- 


25 

ing  to  the  coachman,  who  had  been  standing  by 
and  enjoying  the  whole  as  much  as  any  of  them. 

"  Oh  yes,  sir.  He's  a  bit  eager,  but  as  gentle 
as  a  lamb,"  the  man  replied. 

"And  this  afternoon,"  Ferdy's  father  continued, 
"if  I  can  get  home  between  four  and  five,  I'll  take 
you  a  good  long  ride  —  round  by  Durnham  and 
past  by  Mellway  Sight,  where  you  have  so  often 
wanted  to  go." 

"  Oh,  papa,"  was  all  Ferdy  could  get  out. 

Merton  meanwhile  had  been  examining  the 
stirrup  straps. 

"They're  about  the  right  length  for  you,  I  think, 
sir,"  he  said,  and  then  in  a  moment  Ferdy  was 
mounted. 

Pony  pranced  about  a  little,  just  a  very  little, 
—  he  would  not  have  seemed  a  real  live  pony  if 
he  had  not,  —  but  nothing  to  mind.  Indeed,  Ferdy, 
to  tell  the  truth,  would  have  enjoyed  a  little  more. 
The  coachman  led  him  a  short  way  along  the 
drive,  but  then  let  go,  and  Ferdy  trotted  to  the 
gates  in  grand  style  and  back  again. 

"  Isn't  he  perfect,  Chris  ? "  he  exclaimed  as  he 
came  up  to  the  group  in  front  of  the  porch. 


26  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

"  Mayn't  I  gallop  him,  papa,  this  afternoon  when 
we  go  out?  Round  by  Mellway  there's  beautiful 
grass,  you  know." 

UA11  right,"  Mr.  Ross  replied.  "We  shall  see 
how  you  get  on  outside  on  the  road.  I  don't 
know  that  he  has  any  tricks,  but  every  pony  has 
some  fad,  so  for  a  few  days  we  must  just  be  a 
little  cautious.  Now  trot  back  to  the  gates  once 
more,  and  then  I  think  you  had  better  dismount 
for  the  present.  You  may  go  round  to  the  stable 
with  him.  It's  always  a  good  thing  for  your  horse 
to  know  you  in  the  stable  as  well  as  outside." 

Off  Ferdy  went  again,  a  little  bit  faster  this 
time,  his  spirits  rising  higher  and  higher.  Then 
he  turned  to  come  back  to  the  house,  and  his 
mother  was  just  stepping  indoors,  her  face  still 
lighted  up  with  pleasure,  when  there  came  a 
sudden  cry,  —  a  curious  hoarse  cry,  —  but  for  a 
moment  she  was  not  startled. 

"It  is  the  peacocks,"  she  thought,  for  there  were 
a  couple  of  beautiful  peacocks  at  the  Watch  House. 
"  I  hope  they  won't  frighten  the  pony." 

For  the  peacocks  were  allowed  to  stalk  all  about 
the  grounds,  and  they  were  well-behaved  on  the 


OFF  FERDY  WENT  AGAIN,  A  LITTLE  BIT  FASTER  THIS  TIME.  — P.  26 


THE  PEACOCK'S  CRY  27 

whole ;  though,  as  is  always  the  case  with  these 
birds,  their  harsh  cry  was  not  pleasant,  and  even 
startling  to  those  not  accustomed  to  it. 

Was  it  the  cry,  or  was  it  the  sudden  sight  of  them 
as  they  came  all  at  once  into  view  on  a  side-path 
which  met  the  drive  just  where  Ferdy  was  passing? 

Nobody  ever  knew,  —  probably  pony  himself  could 
not  have  told  which  it  was,  —  but  as  Mrs.  Ross 
instinctively  stopped  a  moment  on  her  way  into 
the  house,  another  sound  seemed  to  mingle  with 
the  peacock's  scream,  or  rather  to  grow  out  from 
it  _  a  sort  of  stifled  shriek  of  terror  and  rushing 
alarm.  Then  came  voices,  trampling  feet,  a  kind 
of  wail  from  Chrissie,  and  in  an  instant  —  an  in- 
stant that  seemed  a  lifetime  —  Ferdy's  mother  saw 
what  it  was.  He  had  been  thrown,  and  one  foot 
had  caught  in  the  stirrup,  and  the  startled  pony 
was  dragging  him  along.  A  moment  or  two  of 
sickening  horror,  then  a  sort  of  silence.  One  of 
the  men  was  holding  the  pony,  Mr.  Ross  and  the 
coachman  were  stooping  over  something  that  lay 
on  the  ground  a  little  way  up  the  drive  —  some- 
thing—  what  was  it?  It  did  not  move.  Was  it 
only  a  heap  of  clothes  that  had  dropped  there 


28  THE   ORIEL    WINDOW 

somehow  ?  It  couldn't,  oh  no,  it  couldn't  be  Ferdy ! 
Ferdy  was  alive  and  well.  He  had  just  been 
laughing  and  shouting  in  his  exceeding  happiness. 
Where  had  he  run  to? 

"  Ferdy,  Ferdy  ! "  his  mother  exclaimed,  scarcely 
knowing  that  she  spoke ;  "  Ferdy  dear,  come  quick, 
come,  Ferdy." 

But  Chrissie  caught  her,  and  buried  her  own 
terror-stricken  face  in  her  mother's  skirts. 

"  Mamma,  mamma,"  she  moaned,  "  don't  look  like 
that.  Mamma,  don't  you  see?  Ferdy's  killed. 
That's  Ferdy  where  papa  is.  Don't  go,  oh  don't 
go,  mamma !  Mamma,  I  can't  bear  it.  "  Hide  me, 
hide  my  eyes." 

And  at  this  frantic  appeal  from  the  poor  little 
half-maddened  sister,  Mrs.  Ross's  strength  and  sense 
came  back  to  her  as  if  by  magic.  She  unclasped 
Chrissie's  clutching  hands  gently  but  firmly. 

"  Run  upstairs  and  call  Flowers.  Tell  her  to 
lay  a  mattress  on  the  floor  of  the  oriel  room  at 
once ;  it  is  such  a  little  way  upstairs ;  and  tell 
Burt  to  bring  some  brandy  at  once  —  brandy  and 
water.  Tell  Burt  first." 

Chrissie  was  gone  in  an  instant.     Ferdy  couldn't 


THE  PEACOCK'S  CRY  29 

be  dead,  she  thought,  if  mamma  wanted  brandy 
for  him.  But  when  the  mother,  nerved  by  love, 
flew  along  the  drive  to  the  spot  where  her  husband 
and  the  coachman  were  still  bending  over  what 
still  was,  or  had  been,  her  Ferdy,  she  could  scarcely 
keep  back  a  scream  of  anguish.  For  a  moment 
she  was  sure  that  Chrissie's  first  words  were  true 
—  he  was  killed. 

"  Walter,  Walter,  tell  me  quick,"  she  gasped. 
"Is  he  —  is  he  alive?" 

Mr.  Ross  looked  up,  his  own  face  so  deadly  pale, 
his  lips  so  drawn  and  quivering,  that  a  rush  of  pity 
for  him  came  over  her. 

"I  —  I  don't  know.  I  can't  tell.  What  do  you 
think,  Merton  ? "  he  said,  in  a  strange  dazed  voice. 
"  He  has  not  moved,  but  we  thought  he  was 
breathing  at  first." 

The  coachman  lifted  his  usually  ruddy  face ;  it 
seemed  all  streaked,  red  and  white  in  patches. 

"I  can  feel  his  heart,  sir;  I  feel  fairly  sure  I 
can  feel  his  heart.  If  we  could  get  a  drop  or  two 
of  brandy  down  his  throat,  and — yes,  I  think  I 
can  slip  my  arm  under  his  head.  There's  Burt 
coming  with  some  water." 


30  THE   ORIEL    WINDOW 

"  And  brandy,"  said  Mrs.  Ross.  "  Here,  give  it 
me  —  a  spoon  —  yes,  that's  right.  And,  Walter, 
have  you  sent  for  the  doctor?" 

Mr.  Ross  passed  his  hand  over  his  forehead,  as 
if  trying  to  collect  himself. 

"  I  will  send  Larkins  now,"  he  said,  "  on  the 
pony  —  that  will  be  the  quickest,"  though  a  sort 
of  shudder  passed  over  him  as  he  spoke  of  the 
innocent  cause  of  this  misery.  "  Larkins,  go  at 
once  for  Mr.  Stern;  you  know  the  shortest  way," 
for  there  was  no  doctor  within  a  mile  or  two  of 
Evercombe  village,  and  Mr.  Ross  raised  himself  to 
give  exact  directions  to  the  young  groom. 

When  he  turned  again  they  had  succeeded  in 
getting  a  spoonful  of  brandy  and  water  between 
Ferdy's  closed  lips  —  then  another ;  then  poor  old 
Merton  looked  up  with  a  gleam  of  hope  in  his 
eyes. 

"  He's  coming  to,  sir  —  ma'am  —  I  do  believe," 
he  said. 

He  was  right.  .  A  quiver  ran  through  the  little 
frame,  then  came  the  sound  of  a  deep  sigh,  and 
Ferdy's  eyes  opened  slowly.  They  opened  and  — 
it  was  like  Ferdy — the  first  sign  he  gave  of  re- 


31 

turning  consciousness  was  a  smile  —  a  very  sweet 
smile. 

"Papa,  mamma,"  he  whispered,  "is  it  time  to 
get  up  ?  Is  it  —  my  birthday  ?  " 

That  was  too  much  for  his  mother.  The  tears 
she  had  been  keeping  back  rushed  to  her  eyes, 
but  they  were  partly  tears  of  joy.  Her  boy  was 
alive ;  at  worst  he  was  not  killed,  and  perhaps, 
oh  perhaps,  he  was  not  badly  hurt. 

Ferdy  caught  sight  of  her  tears,  though  she  had 
turned  her  face  away  in  hopes  of  hiding  them.  A 
pained,  puzzled  look  came  over  him.  He  tried  to 
raise  his  head,  which  was  resting  on  Merton's  arm, 
but  it  sank  down  again  weakly ;  then  he  glanced 
at  his  left  arm  and  hand,  which  were  covered  with 
blood  from  a  cut  on  his  forehead. 

"What  is  the  —  mamma,  why  are  you  crying?" 
he  said.  "  Have  I  hurt  myself  ?  Oh  dear,  did  I 
fall  off  my  beautiful  pony?  I  am  so,  so  sorry." 

uMy  darling,"  said  his  mother,  "it  was  an  ac- 
cident. I  hope  you  will  soon  be  better.  Have 
you  any  pain  anywhere?" 

"  I  don't  think  so,"  said  he,  "  only  I  wish  I  was 
in  bed,  mamma.  What  is  it  that  is  bleeding?" 


32  THE   OKIEL   WINDOW 

"  Nothing  very  bad,  sir,"  said  Merton  cheer- 
fully; "only  a  cut  on  your  forehead.  But  that'll 
soon  heal.  Your  handkerchief,  please,  ma'am, 
dipped  in  cold  water." 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Ross,  "that  is  the  best  thing 
for  the  moment,"  and  he  folded  the  handkerchief 
up  into  a  little  pad,  which  he  soaked  in  the  fresh 
cold  water,  and  laid  it  on  the  place.  "  I  think  we 
must  move  him,"  he  went  on.  "  Ferdy,  my  boy, 
will  you  let  us  try?" 

Ferdy  stretched  out  his  right  arm  and  put  it 
round  his  father's  neck.  But  the  movement  hurt 
somehow  and  somewhere,  for  he  grew  terribly 
white  again. 

"  My  back,"  he  whispered. 

A  thrill  of  new  anguish  went  through  Jiis  par- 
ents at  the  words. 

"  Don't  do  anything  yourself,"  said  Mr.  Ross ; 
"lie  quite  still  and  trust  to  me." 

Ferdy  closed  his  eyes  without  speaking,  and 
skilfully,  though  with  infinite  pains,  his  father 
raised  him  in  his  arms,  Ferdy  making  no  sound  — 
perhaps  he  half  fainted  again;  there  he  lay  quite 
helpless,  like  a  little  baby,  as  with  slow,  careful 


THE  PEACOCK'S  CRY  33 

tread  Mr.  Ross  made  his  way  to  the  house,  from 
which,  not  a  quarter  of  an  hour  ago,  the  boy  had 
flown  out  in  perfect  health  and  joy. 

At  the  door  they  met  Chrissie.  She  started 
violently,  then  covered  her  face  with  her  hands. 

"  Oh,  papa,"  she  began,  but  her  mother  was 
close  behind  and  caught  her  in  her  arms. 

"  Hush,  dear,"  she  said.  "  No,  no,"  in  answer  to 
the  little  girl's  unuttered  question.  "  Ferdy  has 
opened  his  eyes  and  spoken  to  us;  he  knew  us  — 
papa  and  me." 

Chrissie 's  terrors  at  once  made  place  for  hope. 
Her  white  face  flushed  all  over. 

"  He's  spoken  to  you,  mamma  ?  What  did  he 
say?  Oh,  then  he  can't  be  so  very  badly  hurt. 
Oh,  mamma,  how  glad  I  am ! " 

"Be  very,  very  quiet,  dear.  We  can  do  noth- 
ing, and  be  sure  of  nothing,  till  the  doctor  comes, 
but  —  oh  yes,  thank  God,  we  may  hope." 

But  by  the  time  they  had  laid  him  on  the  mat- 
tress in  the  oriel  room  Ferdy  looked  again  so 
ghastly  pale  that  the  poor  mother's  heart  went 
down.  There  was  little  they  could  do ;  they 
scarcely  dared  to  undress  him  till  the  surgeon 


34  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

came.  It  was  a  terrible  hour  or  two's  waiting, 
for  Mr.  Stern  was  out,  and  Larkins  had  to  ride 
some  considerable  way  before  he  caught  him  up 
on  his  morning  rounds. 


CHAPTER   III 

A   STKANGE  BIRTHDAY 

LATE  on  the  afternoon  of  that  sad  day  the  doc- 
tor, coming  out  of  the  oriel  room,  was  met  by 
little  Christine.  She  had  been  watching  for  him 
on  the  stairs.  It  was  his  second  visit  since  the 
morning,  and  his  face  was  very  grave ;  but  its 
expression  altered  at  once  when  he  caught  sight 
of  Chrissie.  Though  Stern  by  name,  he  was  very 
far  from  stern  by  nature,  and  he  was  very  fond 
of  the  Ross  children,  whom  he  had  known  nearly 
all  their  lives.  Besides,  it  is  a  doctor's  business 
to  cheer  up  people  as  much  as  possible,  and  he 
was  touched  by  poor  Chrissie's  white  face.  Never 
had  the  little  girl  spent  such  a  miserable  day,  and 
thankful  though  she  had  been  that  her  darling 
Ferdy's  life  had  been  spared,  she  was  beginning  to 
doubt  if  after  all  he  was  going  to  get  better.  Her 
mother  had  scarcely  left  him  for  an  instant;  she 
had  been  busy  arranging  the  room  for  him,  or 

35 


36  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

rather  she  had  been  sitting  beside  him  holding  his 
hand  while  she  gave  directions  to  the  servants. 

By  the  doctor's  advice  Ferdy's  own  little  bed 
had  been  brought  into  the  room,  and  he  himself 
moved  on  to  it,  lifted  upon  the  mattress  as  he  lay; 
and  it  had,  of  course,  been  necessary  to  carry  out 
some  of  the  other  furniture  and  rearrange  things 
a  little.  This  would  not  disturb  Ferdy,  Mr.  Stern 
said,  but  Ferdy's  head  was  now  aching  from  the 
cut  on  his  forehead,  though  it  was  not  a  very  bad 
one,  and  he  was  tired  and  yet  restless,  and  could 
not  bear  his  mother  to  move  away. 

So  there  she  sat,  and  Mr.  Ross  had  gone  off  to 
Whittingham  by  a  mid-day  train,  and  no  one  had 
given  much  thought  to  poor  Christine. 

"  My  dear  child,"  said  the  doctor,  "  how  ill  you 
look !  Have  you  been  wandering  about  by  your- 
self all  day?" 

"  Yes,"  said  Chrissie  simply,  her  lip  quivering 
as  she  spoke.  "There  was  nothing  I  could  do  to 
help,  and  they  were  all  busy." 

"Where  is  Miss  Lilly?"  asked  Mr.  Stern. 

"  She  wasn't  coming  to-day.  We  were  to  have 
a  holiday.  It  —  it  is  Ferdy's  birthday,  you  know, 


A    STRANGE   BIRTHDAY  37 

and  we  were  going  to  be  so  happy.  OA,"  she 
cried,  as  if  she  could  keep  back  the  misery  no 
longer,  "  to  think  it  is  Ferdy's  birthday ! "  and  she 
burst  again  into  deep  though  not  loud  sobbing. 

Mr.  Stern  was  very,  very  sorry  for  her. 

"Dear  Chrissie,"  he  said,  "you  must  not  make 
yourself  ill.  In  a  day  or  two  you  will  be  wanted 
very  much  indeed,  and  you  must  be  ready  for 
it.  Your  brother  will  want  you  nearly  all  day 
long." 

Chrissie's  sobs  stopped  as  if  by  magic,  though 
they  still  caught  her  breath  a  little,  and  her  face 
grew  all  pink  and  rosy. 

"  Will  he,  will  he  ?  "  she  exclaimed.  "  Do  you 
mean  that  he  is  really  going  to  get  better?  I 
thought — I  thought  —  mamma  kept  shut  up  in 
the  room,  and  nobody  would  tell  me  —  do  you 
really  think  he  is  going  to  get  better  soon?" 

Mr.  Stern  took  her  hand  and  led  her  down- 
stairs, and  then  into  the  library.  There  was  no 
one  there,  but  he  closed  the  door. 

"My  dear  child,"  he  said,  "I  will  tell  you  all  I 
can,"  for  he  knew  that  Christine  was  a  sensible 
little  girl,  and  he  knew  that  anything  was  better 


38  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

than  to  have  her  working  herself  up  more  and 
more  with  miserable  fears.  "  I  think  Ferdy  will 
be  better  in  a  day  or  two,  but  we  cannot  say 
anything  yet  about  his  getting  well.  Your  father 
has  gone  to  Whittingham  to  see  one  of  the 
best  doctors,  and  ask  him  to  come  down  here  to- 
night or  to-morrow  to  examine  your  brother,  and 
after  that  we  shall  know  more.  But  I  am  afraid 
it  is  very  likely  that  he  will  have  to  stay  in  bed 
a  long  time,  and  if  so,  you  know  how  much  you 
can  do  to  make  the  days  pass  pleasantly  for 
him." 

Chrissie's  eyes  sparkled  through  the  tears  still 
there.  "  I  don't  mind  that,"  she  began.  "  Of  course 
I  know  it  will  be  very  dull  and  tiresome  for  him, 
but  nothing  seems  very  bad  compared  with  if  he 
was  going  to  —  "she  stopped  short,  and  again  she 
grew  very  white.  "  Oh,  you  are  sure  he  isn't  going 
to  get  worse  ?  "  she  exclaimed.  "  I  do  get  so  fright- 
ened every  now  and  then  when  I  think  of  how  his 
face  looked,  and  it  was  bleeding  too." 

Mr.  Stern  patted  her  hand. 

"You  have  not  seen  him  since  this  morning?" 
he  said. 


A    STRANGE   BIRTHDAY  39 

Chrissie  shook  her  head. 

"  Not  since  papa  carried  him  in,"  she  replied. 

"Would  you  like  to  see  him  very  much?" 

"Oh,  may  I?  I'll  be  very,  very  quiet  and  good. 
I'll  bathe  my  eyes,  so  that  he  won't  find  out  I've 
been  crying,  and  I'll  only  stay  a  minute." 

"Run  upstairs  then  and  make  yourself  look  as 
much  as  usual  as  you  can.  I  will  go  back  for  a 
moment  and  tell  Mrs.  Ross  I  have  given  you  leave 
to  come  in." 

Two  minutes  or  so  later  Chrissie  was  tapping 
very  softly  at  the  door  of  the  oriel  room. 

"  Come  in,"  said  Mr.  Stern. 

He  was  not  looking  at  all  grave  now,  but  very 
"  smily "  and  cheerful,  which  Chrissie  was  glad  of, 
as  it  reminded  her  that  she  herself  must  not  cry  or 
seem  unhappy.  But  how  strange  it  all  was !  She 
would  scarcely  have  known  the  pretty  little  sitting- 
room  :  Ferdy's  bed  with  a  screen  round  it  standing 
out  at  one  side  of  the  curiously  shaped  window,  her 
mother's  writing-table  and  other  little  things  gone. 
Chrissie  could  not  help  staring  round  in  surprise, 
and  perhaps  because  she  had  a  nervous  dread  of 
looking  at  Ferdy. 


40  THE  ORIEL   WINDOW 

He  saw  her,  however,  at  once. 

"  Chrissie,"  said  a  weak,  rather  hoarse  little  voice, 
"  Chrissie,  come  here." 

Chrissie  choked  down  the  lump  in  her  throat 
that  was  beginning  to  make  itself  felt  again. 

"  Kiss  me,"  he  said  when  she  was  close  beside 
him.  He  did  not  look  so  unlike  himself  now, 
though  there  was  a  bandage  round  his  forehead 
and  he  was  very  pale.  "  Kiss  me,"  he  said  again, 
and  as  she  stooped  down  to  do  so,  without  speak- 
ing, "Chrissie,"  he  whispered,  "I  don't  want  mamma 
to  hear  —  Chrissie,  just  to  think  it's  my  birthday 
and  that  it's  all  through  our  great  wish  coming 
true.  Oh,  Chrissie!" 

The  little  girl  felt,  though  she  could  not  see 
him,  that  Mr.  Stern  was  watching  her,  so  she 
made  a  great  effort. 

"I  know,"  she  whispered  back  again,  and  even 
into  her  whisper  she  managed  to  put  a  cheerful 
sound.  "I  know,  Ferdy  darling.  But  you're 
going  to  get  better.  And  you  haven't  any  very 
bad  pains,  have  you?" 

"Not  very  bad,"  he  replied.  "My  head's  sore, 
but  I  daresay  it'll  be  better  to-morrow.  But  that 


A   STRANGE   BIRTHDAY  41 

won't  make  it  right,  you  see,  Chrissie.  It's  it 
being  my  birthday  I  mind." 

Christine  did  not  know  what  to  say.  Her  eyes 
were  filling  with  tears,  and  she  was  afraid  of  Ferdy 
seeing  them.  She  turned  away  a  little,  and  as 
she  did  so  her  glance  fell  on  the  window,  one  side 
of  which  looked  to  the  west.  She  and  Ferdy  had 
often  watched  the  sunset  from  there.  It  was  too 
early  yet  for  that,  but  signs  of  its  coming  near  were 
beginning;  already  the  lovely  mingling  of  colours 
was  gleaming  faintly  as  if  behind  a  gauzy  curtain. 

"  Ferdy,"  said  Chrissie  suddenly,  "  I  think  there's 
going  to  be  a  beautiful  sunset,  and  you  can  see  it 
lovelily  the  way  you're  lying.  Aren't  you  awfully 
glad  you're  in  here?  It  wouldn't  be  half  so  nice 
in  your  own  room  for  seeing  out,  would  it?" 

"  No,  it  wouldn't,"  said  Ferdy,  more  brightly  than 
he  had  yet  spoken.  "I  can't  move  my  head,  only 
the  least  bit,  but  I  can  see  out.  Yes,  Chrissie,  I 
can  see  the  people  on  the  road  —  I  mean  I  could 
if  the  curtain  was  a  little  more  pulled  back." 

"  Of  course  you  could,"  said  Mr.  Stern,  coming 
forward.  "But  you  must  wait  till  to-morrow  to 
try  how  much  you  can  see." 


42  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

"Shall  I  have  to  stay  in  bed  all  to-morrow?" 
said  Ferdy. 

"  We  must  hear  what  the  big  doctor  says,"  Mr. 
Stern  replied,  for  he  had  already  told  Ferdy  that 
another  surgeon  was  coming  to  see  him,  so  that 
the  sudden  sight  of  a  stranger  should  not  startle 
the  little  fellow.  "Now,  Chrissie,  my  dear,  I 
think  you  must  say  good-night;  you  shall  see 
much  more  of  Ferdy  to-morrow,  I  hope." 

They  kissed  each  other  again,  and  Chrissie  whis- 
pered, "Don't  mind  about  its  being  your  birthday, 
darling.  Think  how  much  worse  you  might  have 
been  hurt." 

"I  know.  I  might  have  been  killed,"  said 
Ferdy  in  a  very  solemn  tone. 

"And  do  watch  the  sunset.  I  think  it's  going 
to  be  extra  pretty,"  Chrissie  went  on  cheerfully. 
"  If  you  have  to  stay  in  bed,  Ferdy,  it  will  be 
nice  to  have  this  lovely  window." 

And  Ferdy's  face  grew  decidedly  brighter. 

"  Good  little  woman,"  said  the  doctor  in  a  low 
voice  as  she  passed  him,  and  by  the  way  mamma 
kissed  her  Chrissie  knew  that  she  too  was  pleased 
with  her. 


A   STRANGE   BIRTHDAY  43 

So  the  little  sister  was  not  altogether  miserable 
as  she  fell  asleep  that  night,  and  she  was  so 
tired  out  that  she  slept  soundly  —  more  heavily 
indeed  than  usual.  She  did  not  hear  the  sound 
of  wheels  driving  up  to  the  house  soon  after  she 
had  gone  to  bed,  and  this  was  a  good  thing,  for 
she  would  have  guessed  they  were  those  of  the 
carriage  bringing  her  father  and  the  doctor  he 
had  gone  to  fetch,  from  the  station,  and  her  anx- 
iety would  very  likely  have  sent  away  her  sleepi- 
ness. 

Nor  did  she  hear  the  carriage  drive  away  again 
an  hour  or  two  later.  By  that  time  she  was  very 
deeply  engaged,4  for  she  was  having  a  curious  and 
very  interesting  dream.  She  had  forgotten  it  when 
she  woke  in  the  morning,  but  it  came  back  to  her 
memory  afterwards,  as  you  will  hear. 

Ferdy  did  not  much  like  the  strange  doctor, 
though  he  meant  to  be  very  kind,  no  doubt.  He 
spoke  to  him  too  much  as  if  he  were  a  baby,  and 
the  boy  was  beginning  at  last  to  feel  less  restless 
and  more  comfortably  sleepy  when  this  new  visitor 
came.  And  then  the  library  lamp  was  brought 
up,  and  it  blinked  into  his  eyes,  and  he  hated 


44  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

being  turned  round  and  having  his  backbone 
poked  at,  as  he  told  Chrissie,  though  he  couldn't 
exactly  say  that  it  hurt  him.  And,  worst  of  all, 
when  he  asked  if  he  might  get  up  "  to-morrow  " 
the  strange  doctor  "put  him  off"  in  what  Ferdy 
thought  a  silly  sort  of  way.  He  would  much 
rather  have  been  told  right  out,  "  No,  certainly 
not  to-morrow,"  and  then  he  could  have  begun 
settling  up  things  in  his  mind  and  planning  what 
he  would  do,  as  Chrissie  and  he  always  did  if 
they  knew  a  day  in  bed  was  before  them ;  for 
they  had  never  been  very  ill  —  never  ill  enough 
to  make  no  plans  and  feel  as  if  they  cared  for 
nothing  in  bed  or  out  of  it. 

No,  Ferdy  was  quite  sure  he  liked  Mr.  Stern 
much  better  than  Dr.  Bigge,  for,  curiously  enough, 
that  was  the  great  doctor's  name,  though  by  rights, 
as  he  was  a  very  clever  surgeon  and  not  a  physi- 
cian, I  suppose  he  should  not  be  called  "  doctor  " 
at  all. 

When  at  last  he  had  gone,  Mr.  Stern  came 
back  for  a  moment  to  tell  Ferdy 's  mother  and 
Flowers  how  it  would  be  best  to  settle  him  for 
the  night.  They  put  the  pillows  in  rather  a  funny 


A   STRANGE   BIRTHDAY  45 

way,  he  thought,  but  still  he  was  pretty  comfort- 
able, and  he  began  to  feel  a  little  sleepy  again; 
and  just  as  he  was  going  to  ask  his  mother  what 
they  were  doing  with  the  sofa,  everything  went 
out  of  his  head,  and  he  was  off  into  the  peaceful 
country  of  sleep,  where  his  troubles  were  all  for- 
gotten, hushed  into  quiet  by  the  soft  waving 
wings  of  the  white  angel,  whose  presence  is  never 
so  welcome  as  to  the  weary  and  suffering. 

When  he  woke  next  there  was  a  faint  light  in  the 
room.  For  a  moment  or  two  he  thought  that  it 
was  the  daylight  beginning  to  come,  and  he  looked 
towards  where  the  window  was  in  his  own  little 
room ;  but  even  the  tiny  motion  of  his  head  on 
the  pillow  sent  a  sort  of  ache  through  him,  and 
that  made  him  remember. 

No,  he  was  not  in  his  own  room,  and  the  glim- 
mer was  not  that  of  the  dawn.  It  was  from  a 
shaded  night-light  in  one  corner,  and  as  his  eyes 
grew  used  to  it  he  saw  that  there  was  some  one 
lying  on  the  sofa  —  some  one  with  bright  brown 
hair,  bright  even  in  the  faint  light,  and  dressed 
in  a  pale  pink  dressing-gown.  It  was  mamma. 
Poor  mamma,  how  uncomfortable  for  her  not  to 


46  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

be  properly  in  bed!  Why  was  she  lying  there? 
He  hoped  she  was  asleep,  and  yet  —  he  almost 
hoped  she  wasn't,  or  at  least  that  she  would  awake 
just  for  a  minute,  for  he  was  thirsty  and  hot,  and 
the  fidgety  feeling  that  he  couldrit  keep  still  was 
beginning  again.  He  did  not  know  that  he  sighed 
or  made  any  sound,  but  he  must  have  done  so, 
for  in  another  moment  the  pink  dressing-gown 
started  up  from  the  sofa,  and  then  mamma's  pretty 
face,  her  blue  eyes  still  looking  rather  "dusty," 
as  the  children  called  it,  with  sleep,  was  anxiously 
bending  over  him. 

uWhat  is  it,  dear?     Did  you  call  me?" 

"No,  mamma.  But  why  aren't  you  in  bed,  and 
why  is  there  a  light  in  the  room  ?  Aren't  you 
going  to  bed?" 

"  Yes,  in  an  hour  or  two  Flowers  will  come 
and  take  my  place.  You  see  we  thought  you 
might  be  thirsty  in  the  night,  and  the  doctor  said 
you  mustn't  move." 

"I  am  thirsty,"  said  Ferdy.  "I'd  like  a  drink 
of  water." 

"  Better  than  lemonade  ?  There  is  some  nice 
fresh  lemonade  here." 


WHAT  is  IT,  DEAR?    DID  YOU  CALL  ME?"  — P.  40. 


A   STRANGE   BIRTHDAY  47 

Ferdy's  eyes  brightened. 

"  Oh,  I  would  like  that  best,  but  I  didn't  know 
there  was  any." 

Mamma  poured  some  out  into  such  a  funny  cup 
—  it  had  a  pipe,  so  Ferdy  called  it,  at  one  side. 
He  didn't  need  to  sit  up,  or  even  to  lift  his  head, 
to  drink  quite  comfortably. 

"And  I  think,"  Mrs.  Ross  went  on,  "I  think  I 
will  give  you  another  spoonful  of  the  medicine. 
It  is  not  disagreeable  to  take,  and  it  will  help 
you  to  go  to  sleep  again." 

Yes,  it  did;  very,  very  soon  he  was  asleep 
again.  This  time  he  dreamt  something,  though 
when  he  awoke  he  could  not  clearly  remember 
what.  He  only  knew  that  it  was  something  about 
birds.  He  lay  with  his  eyes  shut  thinking  about 
it  for  a  few  minutes,  till  a  sound  close  to  him 
made  him  open  them  and  look  round.  It  was 
morning,  quite  morning  and  daylight,  and  from 
the  window  came  the  gentle  twittering  of  some 
swallows,  who  had  evidently  taken  up  their  sum- 
mer quarters  in  some  corner  hard  by. 

"That  must  have  been  what  made  me  dream 
about  birds,"  said  Ferdy  to  himself,  though  he 


48  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

spoke  aloud  without  knowing  it.  "  I  must  have 
heard  them  in  my  sleep." 

"You  have  had  a  nice  sleep,"  said  a  voice  from 
the  other  side  of  his  bed,  and,  looking  towards 
her,  Ferdy  saw  Flowers,  already  dressed  and  with 
a  pleasant  smile  on  her  face.  "  Are  you  feeling 
better,  Master  Ferdy,  dear  ?  " 

The  little  boy  waited  a  moment  or  two  before 
he  replied. 

"  My  head  isn't  so  sore,  and  I'm  not  so  tired, 
but  I  don't  think  I  want  to  get  up  even  if  I 
might.  I  want  Chrissie  to  come  and  sit  beside 
me.  What  o'clock  is  it,  Flowers?" 

"Just  six  o'clock,  sir.  You  will  have  to  wait  a 
little  before  Miss  Christine  can  come.  I  daresay 
she's  tired,  poor  dear,  and  she  may  sleep  late  this 
morning;  perhaps  you  will  be  able  to  sleep  a 
little  more  yourself,  Master  Ferdy.  Would  you 
like  a  drink  of  milk?" 

"Yes,"  said  Ferdy,  "I  would  like  some  milk, 
but  I  can't  go  to  sleep  again ;  I've  too  much  on 
my  mind,"  with  a  deep  sigh. 

He  spoke  in  such  an  "old-fashioned"  way  that, 
sorry  as  the  maid  was  for  him,  she  could  scarcely 


A   STRANGE   BIRTHDAY  49 

help  smiling  a  little.  She  gave  him  the  milk  and 
lifted  him  very,  very  gently  a  little  farther  on  to 
the  pillows. 

"  Does  it  hurt  you,  Master  Ferdy  ?  "  she  asked 
anxiously. 

"  N — no,  I  don't  think  so,"  he  replied  ;  "  but  I 
feel  all  queer.  I  believe  all  my  bones  have  got 
put  wrong,  and  p'r'aps  they'll  never  grow  right 
again." 

"Never's  a  long  word,  my  dear,"  said  Flowers 
cheerfully.  The  truth  was  she  scarcely  knew  what 
to  say,  and  she  was  glad  to  turn  away  and  busy 
herself  with  some  little  tidying  up  at  the  other 
side  of  the  room. 

Ferdy  lay  still,  almost  forgetting  he  was  not 
alone  in  the  room,  for  Flowers  was  very  quiet. 
His  eyes  strayed  to  the  window,  where  another 
lovely  sunshiny  morning  was  gilding  again  the 
world  of  trees,  and  grass,  and  blossom  with  re- 
newed beauty.  It  was  all  so  very  like  yesterday 
morning,  all  "except  me,"  thought  Ferdy,  so  terri- 
bly like  his  birthday  morning,  when  he  had  been  so 
happy,  oh !  so  happy,  that  it  had  been  difficult  to  be- 
lieve in  unhappiness  anywhere.  And  yet  even  then 


50  THE   ORIEL  WINDOW 

he  had  thought  of  unhappiness.  It  was  queer 
that  he  had.  What  had  put  it  into  his  head? 
He  remembered  it  all  —  wondering  how  very  poor, 
or  very  old,  or  very  suffering  people,  cripples,  for 
instance,  could  be  happy.  And  yet  he  had  seen 
some  that  really  seemed  so. 

"  Cripples  "  —  that  word  had  never  come  into  his 
mind  in  the  same  way  before.  He  had  never 
thought  what  it  really  meant.  Supposing  he  were 
to  be  a  cripple?  Was  it  for  fear  of  that  that  the 
doctor  would  not  let  him  get  up?  Ferdy  moved 
his  legs  about  a  very  little ;  they  did  not  hurt 
him,  only  they  felt  weak  and  heavy,  and  he  had  a 
kind  of  shrinking  from  the  idea  of  standing,  or 
even  of  sitting  up  in  bed. 

Was  that  how  cripples  felt?  He  wished  some- 
body would  tell  him,  but  it  was  no  use  asking 
Flowers  —  most  likely  she  did  not  know.  And  he 
didn't  think  he  would  like  to  ask  his  mother; 
she  looked  so  pale  and  tired,  and  it  might  make 
her  cry  if  he  spoke  about  being  a  cripple.  He 
thought  he  might  ask  Chrissie,  perhaps.  She  was 
only  a  little  girl,  but  she  was  very  sensible,  and 
he  could  speak  to  her  without  being  so  afraid 


A   STRANGE   BIRTHDAY  51 

of  making  her  cry  as  if  it  was  mamma  —  or 
rather,  if  she  did  cry,  he  wouldn't  mind  quite  so 
much. 

He  wished  Chrissie  would  come.  Only  six 
o'clock  Flowers  had  said,  not  so  very  long  ago. 
It  couldn't  be  more  than  half-past  six  yet.  What 
a  pity  it  was  that  people,  boys  and  girls  any  way, 
can't  get  up  like  the  birds,  just  when  it  gets  nice 
and  light!  What  a  chatter  and  twitter  those  birds 
outside  were  making  —  he  had  never  noticed  them 
so  much  before.  But  then,  to  be  sure,  he  had 
never  slept  in  the  oriel  room  before.  He  won- 
dered if  they  were  the  same  swallows  that  were 
there  last  year,  and  every  year. 

"If  they  are,"  thought  Ferdy,  "I  should  think 
they  must  have  got  to  know  us.  I  wish  they 
could  talk  to  us  and  tell  us  stories  of  all  the 
places  they  see  when  they  are  travelling.  What 
fun  it  would  be !  I'll  ask  Chrissie  if  she's  ever 
thought  about  it.  I  wonder  if  we  couldn't  ever 
get  to  - —  under  —  stand  —  " 

But  here  the  thread  of  his  wonderings  was 
suddenly  snapped.  Ferdy  had  fallen  asleep  again. 

A  minute   or   two   after,  Flowers   stepped   softly 


52  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

across  the  room  and  stood   beside   the   bed  looking 
down  at  him. 

"  Poor  dear,"  she  said  to  herself,  "  he  does  look 
sweet  lying  there  asleep.  And  to  see  him  as  he 
is  now,  no  one  would  think  there  was  anything 
the  matter  with  him.  Oh  dear,  I  do  hope  it  won't 
turn  out  so  bad  as  the  doctors  fear." 


CHAPTER  IV 

WHAT   THE   SWALLOWS   THOUGHT   OF   IT 

THANKS  to  the  extra  sleep  which  had  come  to 
Ferdy  after  all,  he  had  not  long  to  wait  for  Chris- 
sie  once  he  had  wakened  up  "  for  good."  She 
was  not  allowed  to  see  him  till  he  had  had  his 
breakfast,  for  it  was  very  important  to  keep  up 
his  strength  with  nourishing  food,  and  "  if  you 
begin  talking  together,  you  know,"  said  mamma, 
"  Ferdy  would  get  interested  and  excited,  and  very 
likely  not  feel  inclined  to  eat  anything.  That  is 
even  the  way  sometimes  when  you  are  both  quite 
well." 

She  was  speaking  to  Chrissie  about  how  careful 
she  must  be,  if  she  were  to  be  trusted  to  be  with 
her  brother,  not  to  seem  sad  or  dull,  and  yet  to 
be  very  quiet  — "  quietly  cheerful,  dear,"  she  went 
on,  "and  if  Ferdy  is  at  all  cross  or  peevish,  you 
must  just  not  mind." 

53 


54  THE  ORIEL   WINDOW 

Chrissie  looked  up  in  surprise.  Ferdy  cross  or 
peevish  seemed  impossible. 

"  He  never  is,  mamma  dear,"  she  said.  "  If  ever 
we  have  little  quarrels,  it  is  almost  always  more 
my  fault  than  his,"  which  was  quite  true. 

"  Yes,"  her  mother  replied,  "  but  you  don't 
know,  Chrissie,  how  illness  changes  people.  Ferdy 
never  has  been  seriously  ill  in  his  life,  and  —  and 
this  sad  accident  is  sure  to  tell  on  his  nerves." 
She  had  been  doing  her  best  to  speak  cheerfully, 
but  now  her  voice  broke,  and  the  tears  came  into 
her  eyes,  already  worn  and  tired-looking  with  the 
long  hours  of  anxiety. 

Chrissie  stroked  her  hand  gently.  Then  she 
said,  though  hesitating  a  little,  "  Mamma  darling, 
won't  you  tell  me  more  about  Ferdy  —  about  what 
the  doctors  think,  I  mean.  I  promise  you  I  will 
not  let  him*  find  out  anything  you  don't  want  him 
to  know.  I  will  be  very  brave  and  —  and  cheer- 
ful, but  I  would  so  like  to  know.  It  isn't  that 
he's  not  going  to  get  better  —  that  he's  going  to 
get  worse  ?  " 

"No,  dear,  not  that,"  said  Mrs.  Ross,  drying 
her  eyes  as  she  spoke.  "  He  is  a  strong  child, 


WHAT    THE    SWALLOWS   THOUGHT    OF   IT          55 

and  his  general  health  is  good,  but  his  back  is  in- 
jured badly.  That  is  the  reason  we  are  so  anx- 
ious. He  may  get  better.  The  doctors  think 
that  in  a  few  weeks  he  will  be  able  to  be  up  and 
dressed  and  to  lie  on  a  couch,  but  they  cannot 
say  if  he  will  ever  be  quite  right  again.  I  am 
afraid  they  do  not  think  he  ever  will." 

"  Oh,  mamma,"  said  Chrissie. 

Mrs.  Ross  looked  at  her  anxiously;  she  wondered 
if  she  had  done  wrong  in  telling  her  so  much. 
And  the  little  girl  guessed  what  she  was  thinking. 

"I  would  much  rather  know,  mamma,"  she  said, 
— "  much  rather.  It  will  make  me  more  careful 
when  I  am  with  dear  Ferdy,  and  if  he  ever  is  the 
least  cross,  I  won't  mind.  I  will  try  to  amuse 
him  nicely.  Are  you  going  to  tell  Miss  Lilly, 
mamma?" 

"  Oh  yes,  I  am  hoping  that  she  will  be  a  great 
help.  I  will  see  her  this  morning  as  soon  as  she 
comes." 

"  Are  we  to  do  any  lessons  to-day  ? "  asked 
Chrissie.  "Is  Ferdy  to  do  lessons  in  bed?" 

"  In  a  few  days  perhaps  he  may,"  said  Mrs. 
Ross.  "He  will  seem  better  in  a  few  days,  for  he 


56  THE  ORIEL  WINDOW 

has  had  a  great  shock  besides  the  hurt  to  his  back, 
and  he  must  have  time  to  get  over  it;  but  I  think 
you  had  better  do  some  lessons,  Chrissie  —  those 
that  you  have  separately  from  Ferdy.  Flowers  or 
I  will  sit  beside  him  a  good  part  of  the  day,  and 
I  hope  he  will  sleep  a  good  deal.  If  he  does  not 
seem  much  better  in  a  day  or  two  we  shall  have 
to  get  a  nurse." 

<;  Oh,  I  hope  not,"  said  Chrissie.  "  Ferdy  wouldn't 
like  a  stranger." 

"  Well,  we  shall  see,"  said  Mrs.  Ross.  "  Now 
you  may  go  to  Ferdy,  dear." 

And  Chrissie  ran  off.  She  was  startled,  but 
still  not  very  sad.  She  was  so  delighted  to  be 
with  her  brother  again  after  a  whole  day's  separa- 
tion, and  proud  too  of  being  trusted  to  take  care 
of  him.  But  it  was  going  to  be  more  difficult  for 
her  than  she  knew,  for,  as  you  will  remember, 
Ferdy  had  made  up  his  mind  to  ask  Christine  if 
she  could  tell  him  what  the  doctors  really  thought 
of  him. 

He  looked  so  much  better  than  the  day  before 
that  she  could  scarcely  believe  there  was  much 
the  matter,  and  he  looked  still  better  when  he 


WHAT  THE   SWALLOWS   THOUGHT   OF   IT         57 

caught  sight  of  her  —  his  whole  face  lighted  up 
with  smiles. 

"  Oh,  Chrissie,"  he  called  out,  "  how  glad  I  am 
you've  come !  It  seems  such  a  long  time  since  I 
saw  you.  You  do  look  so  nice  this  morning." 

So  she  did  —  she  was  a  very  pretty  little  girl, 
especially  when  her  cheeks  were  rosy  and  her  eyes 
bright,  as  they  were  just  now. 

"  You  look  much  better  too,  Ferdy,"  she  said, 
— "  quite  different  from  yesterday.  Have  you  had 
a  good  night?" 

"  Pretty  good,"  said  Ferdy  in  rather  a  melancholy 
tone.  "I  am  getting  tired  of  staying  in  bed." 

Chrissie's  heart  sank — "tired  of  staying  in  bed," 
and  this  scarcely  the  second  day  of  it!  What 
would  he  do  if  it  went  on  for  weeks  —  perhaps 
months  ?  She  felt  glad,  however,  that  she  knew 
the  truth ;  it  would  make  her  be  very  careful  in 
what  she  said. 

"I  wouldn't  mind  so  much,"  he  went  on,  "if  I 
knew  how  long  it'd  be.  And  I  don't  like  to  ask 
mamma  for  fear  of  making  her  sad,  in  case  it  was 
to  be  for  a  long  while.  Chrissie,"  and  here  he  fixed 
his  blue  eyes — so  like  his  mother's — on  his  sis- 


58  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

ter's  face,  "c?0  you  think  it'll  be  a  very  long  while? 
Do  you  think,"  and  his  voice  grew  still  more  sol- 
emn, "that  p'r'aps  I'll  never  be  able  to  stand  or 
walk  again?" 

Chrissie's  heart  was  beating  fast.  She  was  so 
glad  to  be  able  with  truth  to  answer  cheerfully. 

"  Oh  no,  Ferdy  dear.  I  really  do  think  you'll 
be  able  to  get  up  and  be  dressed  before  very  long. 
But  I  should  think  the  quieter  you  keep  just 
now  the  quicker  you'll  get  better.  And  it's  so 
nice  in  this  room,  and  you  can  see  so  nicely  out 
of  the  window.  You  don't  want  to  get  up  just 
yet,  do  you  —  not  till  you  feel  stronger  ?  Mamma 
says  you'll  feel  much  stronger  in  a  few  days." 

"  Does  she  ? "  said  Ferdy,  brightening ;  "  then 
the  doctors  must  have  told  her.  I'm  so  glad.  No, 
I  don't  really  want  to  get  up  —  at  least  I  don't 
feel  as  if  I  could  —  that's  what  bothers  me.  I  am 
not  sorry  in  my  body  to  stay  in  bed,  but  in  my 
mind  I'm  .all  in  a  fidget.  I  keep  fancying  things," 
and  he  hesitated. 

"What  sort  of  things?"  asked  Chrissie.  She  had 
a  feeling  that  it  was  better  for  him  to  tell  her  all 
that  was  on  his  mind. 


WHAT   THE    SWALLOWS    THOUGHT    OF   IT          59 

He  tried  to  do  so.  He  told  her  how  the  day 
before,  when  he  was  quite  well  and  so  very  happy, 
his  thoughts  had  somehow  wandered  to  people 
whose  lives  were  very  different  from  his,  and  how 
this  morning  these  thoughts  had  come  back  again, 
the  same  yet  different. 

"  Chrissie,"  he  said,  "  I  don't  think  I  could  bear 
it  if  I  was  never  to  get  well  again." 

It  was  very  hard  for  the  little  sister  to  keep 
her  self-control.  If  Mrs.  Ross  had  known  how 
Ferdy  was  going  to  talk  to  Chrissie,  very  probably 
she  would  not  have  told  her  all  she  had  done. 
But  Chrissie  seemed  to  have  grown  years  older 
in  a  few  hours. 

"  And  yet  there  must  be  lots  of  people  who  do 
bear  it  —  just  what  you  were  saying  yourself," 
said  Chrissie  thoughtfully.  "  I  suppose  they  get 
accustomed  to  it." 

"I  think  it  must  be  more  than  getting  accus- 
tomed to  make  them  really  seem  happy,"  said 
Ferdy.  "  P'r'aps  it's  something  to  do  with  not 
being  selfish." 

"Yes,"  said  Chrissie,  "I'm  sure  it  has.  You  see 
they'd  know  that  if  they  always  seemed  unhappy 


60  THE   ORIEL    WINDOW 

it  would  make  their  friends  unhappy  too.  And 
then  —  " 

"What?"  said  Ferdy. 

"  I  was  only  thinking  that  mamma  says  people 
can  always  do  something  for  other  people.  And 
that  makes  you  happier  yourself  than  anything, 
you  know,  Ferdy." 

Ferdy  lay  still,  thinking. 

"  That  was  partly  what  was  in  my  mind,"  he  said 
at  last.  "  Such  lots  of  thinkings  have  come  since 
yesterday,  Chrissie — you'd  hardly  believe.  I  was 
thinking  that  supposing  I  could  never  run  about, 
or  do  things  like  other  boys,  what  a  trouble  I'd 
be  to  everybody,  and  no  good." 

"I  don't  think  you  need  think  of  things  that 
way,"  said  his  sister.  uPapa  and  mamma  love 
you  too  much  ever  to  think  you  a  trouble,  and  I'm 
sure  you  could  be  of  good  somehow.  But  I  don't 
think  you  should  begin  puzzling  about  things  when 
you're  really  not  better  yet ;  you'll  make  your  head 
ache,  and  then  they  might  think  it  was  my  fault. 
Oh,  Ferdy,"  suddenly,  "  I  had  such  a  funny  dream 
last  night." 

"I   dreamt   something   too,"  said   Ferdy,  "but   I 


WHAT  THE   SWALLOWS   THOUGHT   OF  IT         61 

couldn't  remember  what  it  was.  It  was  something 
about  — " 

"  Mine  was  about  birds,"  interrupted  Christine, 
"about  the  swallows  who  have  a  nest  just  over 
the  oriel  window.  I  thought  —  " 

"  How  very  funny ! "  exclaimed  Ferdy,  interrupt- 
ing in  his  turn,  his  eyes  sparkling  with  excitement. 
"  I  do  believe  mine  was  too.  I  knew  it  was  about 
birds,  but  I  couldn't  get  hold  of  the  rest  of  it. 
And  now  I  seem  to  remember  more,  and  I  know 
I  was  thinking  about  those  swallows  when  I  fell 
asleep.  I  was  wishing  I  could  understand  what 
they  mean  when  they  twitter  and  chirp.  Tell  me 
your  dream,  Chris;  perhaps  it'll  make  me  remem- 
ber mine." 

Christine  was  delighted  to  see  that  Ferdy's 
thoughts  were  turned  from  melancholy  things  — 
only  —  there  was  something  about  him  in  her 
dream.  She  hoped  it  wouldn't  make  him  sad 
again. 

"I  dreamt  I  was  walking  in  the  garden,"  she 
said,  "down  there  on  the  path  just  below  this 
window.  I  was  alone,  and  somehow  even  in  my 
dream  I  knew  there  was  something  the  matter.  It 


62  THE   ORIEL    WINDOW 

seemed  to  be  either  late  in  the  evening  or  very 
early  in  the  morning,  I'm  not  sure  which,  but  it 
wasn't  quite  light,  and  there  was  a  funny,  dreamy 
sort  of  look  in  the  sky — " 

"What  colour?"  asked  Ferdy. 

"  All  shaded,"  said  Chrissie,  "  something  like 
mother-of-pearl.  I've  seen  it  in  a  picture,  but 
never  quite  like  that  in  the  real  sky,  though  the 
real  sky  is  so  very  beautiful." 

"  That's  just  because  it  was  a  dream,"  said 
Ferdy  sagely.  "  You  never  see  things  really  the 
same  as  you  do  in  dreams.  That's  what  makes 
dreams  so  nice,  I  suppose, — nice  dreams  I  mean, 
—  but  I've  sometimes  felt  more  unhappy  in 
dreams  than  ever  I  did  awake." 

"So  have  I,"  said  Chrissie. 

"Well,  go  on,"  said  Ferdy,  "it  sounds  rather 
nice.  You  were  walking  along  and  the  sky  was 
so  wonderful?" 

"Yes,"  continued  Chrissie,  "I  was  looking  up 
at  it,  and  not  thinking  a  bit  about  you  being  ill, 
and  then  all  of  a  sudden  I  heard  something  rust- 
ling up  over  my  head,  and  then  a  twittering  and 
chirping,  and  I  knew  it  was  the  swallows  come 


WHAT   THE   SWALLOWS   THOUGHT   OF   IT          63 

back,  and  then  I  got  the  feeling  still  more  that 
there  was  something  the  matter,  and  I  began 
wondering  if  the  swallows  knew  and  were  talking 
about  it  —  their  chirping  got  to  sound  so  like  talk- 
ing. And  at  last,  standing  quite  still  and  almost 
holding  my  breath  to  listen,  I  began  to  make  out 
what  they  were  saying.  The  first  thing  I  heard 
was,  'It's  rather  sad  to  have  come  back  to  this,' 
and  then  another  voice  said,  4I  don't  like  pea- 
cocks ;  vain,  silly  birds ;  they  have  no  hearts ; 
not  like  us;  everybody  knows  how  much  we  mind 
what  happens  to  our  friends.'  And  when  I  heard 
that,  Ferdy,  it  made  me  think  of  the  poetry  we 
were  learning  last  week,  about  the  swallows  com- 
ing back,  you  know,  and  the  changes  they 
found." 

"I  daresay  it  was  that  made  you  dream  it," 
said  Ferdy. 

Christine  looked  rather  disappointed. 

"No,  we  won't  think  that,  then,"  said  he,  cor- 
recting himself  as  he  noticed  his  sister's  face, 
"  it's  really  very  interesting  —  'specially  as  I  know 
I  dreamt  something  like  it  that  I've  forgotten. 
What  more  did  the  swallows  say?" 


64  THE   OKIEL    WINDOW 

"The  other  voice  said  something  I  couldn't 
hear.  It  sounded  as  if  one  was  inside  the  nest, 
and  the  other  outside.  And  then  the  first  one 
said,  'Well,  we'll  do  our  best  to  cheer  him  up. 
He  needn't  be  dull  if  he  uses  his  eyes ;  it's  a 
cheerful  corner.'  And  by  this  time,  Ferdy,  I 
had  remembered  all  about  you  being  hurt,  and  it 
came  into  my  mind  how  nice  it  would  be  if  the 
swallows  would  tell  us  stories  of  all  the  things 
they  see  at  the  other  side  of  the  world  when  they 
go  away  for  the  winter." 

"  I  don't  think  it's  quite  the  other  side  of  the 
world,"  said  Ferdy  doubtfully,  "  not  as  far  as  that." 

"Well,  never  mind,"  said  Chrissie,  with  a  little 
impatience,  "  you  know  what  I  mean.  If  you  keep 
interrupting  me  so,  I  can't  tell  it  rightly." 

"I  won't,  then,"  said  Ferdy. 

"There  isn't  much  more  to  tell,"  continued  Chris- 
sie. "I  looked  up,  thinking  I  might  see  the  swal- 
lows or  martins,  whichever  they  are,  and  I  called 
out,  '  Oh,  won't  you  come  down  and  speak  to  me  ? 
It  would  be  so  nice  for  you  to  tell  Ferdy  stories 
about  your  adventures,  now  that  I  can  understand 
what  you  say.'  And  I  felt  so  pleased.  But  I 


WHAT   THE   SWALLOWS   THOUGHT   OF   IT          65 

couldn't  see  them,  and  all  I  heard  was  twittering 
again,  —  twittering  and  chirping,  —  and  then  some- 
how I  awoke,  and  there  really  was  twittering  and 
chirping  to  be  heard,  for  my  window  was  a  little 
open.  It  was  a  funny  dream,  Ferdy,  wasn't  it?" 

"Yes,  very,"  said  Ferdy.  "I  wish  you'd  go  on 
with  it  to-night  and  make  them  tell  you  stories." 

Chrissie  shook  her  head. 

"I  don't  think  any  one  could  dream  regular 
stories  like  that,"  she  said.  "But  it  is  rather  nice 
to  fancy  that  the  swallows  know  about  us,  and  that 
it's  the  same  ones  who  come  back  every  year.  It 
makes  them  seem  like  friends." 

"  Yes,"  said  Ferdy,  "  it  is  nice.  I  wonder,"  he 
went  on,  "what  sort  of  things  they  meant  me  to 
look  at  out  of  the  window.  It  did  rather  sound, 
Chrissie,  as  if  they  thought  I'd  have  to  stay  a  long 
time  here  in  bed,  didn't  it?" 

Chrissie  laughed,  though  a  little  nervously. 

"  How  funny  you  are,  Ferdy,"  she  said.  "  How 
could  the  swallows  know,  even  if  it  had  been  real  and 
not  a  dream  ?  Still,  we  may  a  little  fancy  it  is  true. 
We  could  almost  make  a  story  of  the  window  —  of 
all  the  things  to  be  seen,  and  all  the  people  passing. 


66  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

When  you  are  able  to  be  on  the  sofa,  Ferdy,  -it 
might  stand  so  that  you  would  see  all  ways  —  it 
would  really  be  like  a  watch. tower." 

Ferdy  raised  himself  a  very  little  on  one  elbow. 

"Yes,"  he  said  eagerly,  "I  see  how  you  mean. 
I  do  hope  I  may  soon  be  on  the  sofa.  I  think  I 
would  make  a  plan  of  looking  out  of  one  side  part 
of  the  day,  and  then  out  of  the  other  side.  I  don't 
think  it  would  be  so  bad  to  be  ill  if  you  could  make 
plans.  It's  the  lying  all  day  just  the  same  that 
must  get  so  dreadfully  dull." 

"  Well,  you  need  never  do  that,"  said  his  sister, 
"  not  even  now.  When  Miss  Lilly  comes  I'm  to  do 
a  little  lessons  first,  and  then  I  daresay  she'll  come 
in  here  and  read  aloud  to  us,  and  when  I  go  a  walk 
mamma  will  sit  with  you.  Things  will  soon  get 
into  plans." 

"If  I  could  do  some  of  my  work,"  said  Ferdy, 
"cutting  out  or  painting  things  for  my  scrap- 
book." 

"  I  daresay  you  soon  can,"  said  Chrissie  hopefully. 
She  was  pleased  that  he  had  not  questioned  her  more 
closely  as  to  what  the  doctors  had  said,  for  fortu- 
nately her  cheerful  talking  had  made  him  partly  for- 


WHAT  THE   SWALLOWS   THOUGHT   OF   IT          67 

get  that  he  had  made  up  his  mind  the  night  before 
to  find  out  exactly  everything  she  could  tell  him. 

Suddenly  Chrissie,  who  was  standing  in  the  win- 
dow, gave  a  little  cry. 

"  There  is  Miss  Lilly,"  she  exclaimed.  "  I  am  so 
glad.  Now  she  has  stopped  to  talk  to  somebody. 
Who  can  it  be  ?  Oh,  I  see,  it's  that  naughty  Jesse 
Piggot !  I  wonder  why  he  isn't  at  school  ?  She 
seems  talking  to  him  quite  nicely.  Now  she's  com- 
ing on  again  and  Jesse  is  touching  his  cap.  He  can 
be  very  polite  when  he  likes.  Shall  I  run  and  meet 
Miss  Lilly,  and  bring  her  straight  up  here  ?  No,  I 
can't,  for  there's  mamma  going  down  the  drive 
towards  her.  She  must  have  seen  her  coming  from 
the  drawing-room  window." 

"  Go  on,"  said  Ferdy.  "  Tell  me  what  they  are 
doing.  Are  they  shaking  hands  and  talking  to  each 
other?  I  daresay  they're  talking  about  me.  Does 
Miss  Lilly  look  sorry  ?  P'r'aps  mamma  is  explaining 
that  I  can't  have  any  lessons  to-day." 

"N — no,"  said  Chrissie,  "she's  talking  quite  — 
like  always,  but  —  she's  holding  mamma's  hand." 

"  Oh,"  said  Ferdy  with  satisfaction,  "  that  does 
mean  she's  sorry,  I'm  sure.  It  would  be  nice,  Chris- 


68  THE   ORIEL    WINDOW 

sie,  if  I  was  lying  more  in  the  window.  I  could  see 
all  those  int'resting  things  myself.  I  could  see  a 
good  deal  now  if  I  was  sitting  up  more,"  and  for  a 
moment  he  startled  his  sister  by  moving  as  if  he 
were  going  to  try  to  raise  himself  in  bed. 

"Oh,  Ferdy,  you  mustn't,"  she  cried,  darting 
towards  him. 

But  poor  Ferdy  was  already  quite  flat  on  his 
pillow  again. 

" I  can't"  he  said  with  a  sigh,  " I  can't  sit  up  the 
least  little  bit,"  and  tears  came  into  his  eyes. 

"Well,  don't  look  so  unhappy,"  said  Chrissie, 
returning  to  her  post  at  the  window,  "  for  they  are 
coming  in  now,  and  mamma  won't  be  pleased  if  she 
thinks  I've  let  you  get  dull.  There  now,  I  hear 
them  coming  upstairs." 

"  All  right,"  said  Ferdy  manfully,  "  I'm  not  going 
to  look  unhappy." 

And  it  was  quite  a  cheerful  little  face  which 
met  his  mother's  anxious  glance  as  she  opened  the 
door  to  usher  in  Miss  Lilly. 


CHAPTER  V 

JESSE  PIGGOT 

Miss  LILLY'S  face  was  cheerful  too.  At  least  so 
it  seemed  to  Ferdy,  for  she  was  smiling,  and  imme- 
diately began  speaking  in  a  bright,  quick  way. 

But  Chrissie  looked  at  her  once  or  twice  and 
"understood."  She  saw  faint  traces  of  tears  hav- 
ing been  very  lately  in  her  governess's  kind  eyes, 
and  she  heard  a  little  tremble  in  the  voice  below 
the  cheeriness.  "  My  dear  Ferdy,"  Miss  Lilly  was 
saying,  "  see  what  comes  of  holidays  !  Much  better 
have  lessons  than  accidents,  but  it's  an  ill  wind 
that  blows  no  good.  We  shall  have  famous  time 
now  for  your  favourite  lessons — sums  and  —  " 

"Now,  Miss  Lilly,  you're  joking  —  you  know  you 
are,"  said  Ferdy,  looking  up  in  her  face  with  his 
sweet  blue  eyes  —  eyes  that  to  the  young  girl's 
fancy  looked  very  wistful  that  morning.  He  had 
stretched  out  his  arms,  and  was  clasping  them 
round  her  neck.  Ferdy  was  very  fond  of  Miss 

69 


70  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

Lilly.  "Aren't  you  joking?"  He  wasn't  quite, 
quite  sure  if  she  was,  for  sums  were  one  of  the 
few  crooks  in  Ferdy's  lot,  and  rather  a  sore  subject. 

Something  in  the  tone  of  his  voice  made  Miss 
Lilly  kiss  him  again  as  she  replied,  "  Of  course 
I'm  joking,  my  dear  little  matter-of-fact.  No,  your 
mamma  says  you  are  only  to  do  your  really  fa- 
vourite lessons  for  a  week  or  two,  and  not  those  if 
they  tire  you.  We  are  all  going  to  spoil  you,  I'm 
afraid,  my  boy." 

"  I  don't  want  to  be  spoilt,"  said  Ferdy.  "  Chris- 
sie  and  I  have  been  talking.  I  want  to  make 
plans  and  be  —  be  useful  or  some  good  to  some- 
body, even  if  I  have  to  stay  in  bed  a  good  bit. 
What  I  most  want  to  get  out  of  bed  for  is  to  lie 
on  the  sofa  and  have  the  end  of  it  pulled  into  the 
window,  so  that  I  can  see  along  the  roads  all  ways. 
Oh,  Chrissie,  you  must  tell  Miss  Lilly  about  the 
swallows,  and  —  and  —  what  was  it  I  wanted  to  ask 
you?"  He  looked  round,  as  if  he  were  rather 
puzzled. 

"Are  you  not  talking  too  much?"  said  Miss 
Lilly,  for  the  little  fellow's  eyes  were  very  bright 
—  too  bright,  she  feared.  "  Chrissie  dear,  perhaps 


JESSE  PIGGOT  71 

you  can  remember  what  Ferdy  wanted  to  ask  me 
about." 

"Oh,  I  know,"  said  Ferdy;  "it  was  about  Jesse 
Piggot.  Chrissie,  you  ask." 

"  We  saw  you  talking  to  him  —  at  least  I  did  — 
out  of  the  window,  and  we  wondered  what  it  was 
about.  They  all  say  he's  a  very  naughty  boy, 
Miss  Lilly." 

"  I  know,"  Miss  Lilly  replied.  "  He's  a  Dray- 
moor  boy  "  —  Draymoor  was  the  name  of  the  min- 
ing village  that  Ferdy  had  been  thinking  about  on 
his  birthday  morning  —  "or  rather  he  used  to  be, 
till  his  uncle  there  died." 

"  And  now  he  lives  at  Farmer  Meare's,  where 
he  works,  but  he's  still  naughty,"  said  Chrissie,  as 
if  it  was  rather  surprising  that  the  having  left  off 
living  at  the  black  village  had  not  made  Jesse 
good  at  once. 

Miss  Lilly  smiled. 

"I  don't  think  everybody  at  Draymoor  is 
naughty,"  she  said.  "I  think  Jesse  would  have 
been  a  difficult  boy  to  manage  anywhere,  though 
Draymoor  isn't  a  place  with  much  in  the  way  of 
good  example  certainly.  But  I  hope  it's  getting  a 


72  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

little  better.  If  one  could  get  hold  of  the  chil- 
dren." She  sat  silent  for  a  moment  or  two,  her 
eyes  looking  as  if  they  saw  scenes  not  there. 
"I  know  several  of  the  miners'  families  who  live 
nearer  us  than  Draymoor  —  at  Bollins,  and  there 
are  some  such  nice  children  among  them." 

Bollins  was  a  small  hamlet  on  the  Draymoor 
road,  and  the  little  house  where  Miss  Lilly  lived 
with  her  grandfather,  an  elderly  man  who  had 
once  been  a  doctor,  was  just  at  the  Evercombe 
side  of  Bollins. 

"But  you  haven't  told  us  what  you  were  saying 
to  Jesse,"  said  Chrissie. 

"  Oh  no,"  said  Miss  Lilly.  "  Poor  boy,  it  was 
nice  of  him.  He  was  asking  how  Master  Ferdy 
was." 

Ferdy  looked  pleased. 

"  Did  you  tell  him  I  was  better  ? "  he  asked. 

"  I  said  I  hoped  so,  but  that  I  had  not  seen  you 
yet.  And  then  he  asked  if  he  might  send  you  his 
4  respexs '  and  '  Was  there  any  birds'  eggs  you'd  a 
fancy  for?'" 

"  Poor  Jesse,"  said  Ferdy.  "  But  birds'  eggs  are 
one  of  the  things  he's  been  so  naughty  about  — 


JESSE   PIGGOT  73 

taking  them  all  and  selling  them  to  somebody  at 
Freston.  Papa's  almost  sure  —  at  least  Ferguson 
is  —  that  he  took  some  thrushes'  eggs  out  of  our 
garden.  Fancy,  Miss  Lilly  !  " 

"And  then  for  him  to  offer  to  get  Ferdy  any," 
said  Chrissie. 

"  He  knows  I  c'lect  them,"  said  Ferdy ;  "  but 
papa  told  me  long  ago,  when  I  was  quite  little, 
never  to  take  all  the  eggs,  and  Pve  never  taken 
more  than  one.  If  you  see  Jesse  again  will  you 
tell  him  he  must  never  take  more  than  one,  Miss 
Lilly?" 

"  I  think  in  this  case,"  she  replied,  "  it  is  better 
to  tell  him  not  to  take  any  at  all  —  the  temp- 
tation would  be  too  great  if  he  knows  he  can 
always  sell  them.  I  told  him  I  would  give  you 
his  message,  but  that  I  did  not  think  you  wanted 
any  eggs  that  he  could  get  you,  and  I  advised  him 
to  leave  bird's-nesting  alone,  as  it  had  already  got 
him  into  trouble." 

"What  did  he  say?"  asked  Christine. 

"  He  looked  rather  foolish  and  said  he  '  had 
nought  to  do  of  an  evening,  that  was  what  got 
him  into  mischief;  it  wasn't  as  if  he  had  a  home 


74  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

of  his  own,'  though  as  far  as  that  goes,  I  see 
plenty  of  boys  who  have  homes  of  their  own  idling 
about  in  the  evenings.  It  doesn't  matter  in  the 
summer,  but  in  the  winter  grandfather  and  I  often 
feel  sorry  for  them,  and  wish  we  could  do  some- 
thing to  amuse  them.  But  now,  Chrissie  dear,  we 
had  better  go  to  the  schoolroom  ;  your  mamma  is 
coming  to  sit  with  Ferdy  for  an  hour  or  so." 

"  Good-bye,  darling,"  said  Chrissie,  as  she  stooped 
to  kiss  Ferdy 's  pale  little  face  —  it  had  grown  very 
pale  again  since  the  excitement  of  seeing  Miss 
Lilly  had  faded  away.  "  We  shall  be  back  soon 

—  won't  we,  Miss  Lilly?"  she  went  on,  turning  to 
her  governess  as  they  left  the  room  together. 

"It  depends  on  how  he  is,"  was  the  reply.  "Mrs. 
Ross  hopes  that  he  will  have  a  little  sleep  now, 
but  if  he  is  awake  and  not  too  tired  when  you 
have  finished  your  lessons,  I  will  read  aloud  to 
you  both  in  his  room." 

"Miss  Lilly,"  began  .Chrissie  again,  looking  up 
very  sadly  when  they  were  seated  at  the  school- 
room table,  "  I  don't  want  to  be  silly,  but  I  really 
don't  feel  as  if  I  could  do  any  lessons.  It  is  so 

—  so    dreadful    to    be    without    Ferdy,    when    you 


JESSE   PIGGOT  75 

think  that  only  the  day  before  yesterday  we  were 
both  here  together  and  so  happy,  looking  forward 
to  his  birthday,"  and  the  child  put  her  head  down 
on  her  arms  and  broke  into  deep  though  quiet 
sobs. 

In  an  instant  Miss  Lilly  had  left  her  place  and 
was  kneeling  on  the  floor  beside  her. 

"  My  poor  little  Chrissie,  my  dear  little  Chrissie," 
she  said,  "  I  am  so  sorry  for  you,"  and  the  tone 
of  her  voice  showed  that  it  was  difficult  for  her 
to  keep  back  her  own  tears,  — "  so  very  sorry ; 
but  remember,  dear,  that  we  can  do  much  better 
for  Ferdy  by  controlling  our  grief  than  by  giving 
way  to  it.  A  great  deal  depends  on  keeping  him 
cheerful  and  happily  employed  and  interested. 
When  I  got  your  mother's  note  yesterday  after- 
noon—  oh  dear,  what  a  shock  it  was  to  me!  —  I 
spoke  to  my  grandfather  about  Ferdy  a  great  deal, 
and  he  said  in  such  cases  much  depends  on  not 
letting  the  nervous  system  give  way.  Do  you 
understand  at  all  what  I  mean  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  think  so,"  said  Chrissie,  drying  her  eyes 
and  listening  eagerly.  "  You  mean  if  poor  Ferdy 
was  to  lie  there  all  day  alone,  like  some  poor 


76  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

children  have  to  do,  I  daresay,  he'd  get  to  feel 
as  if  he  would  never  get  well  again." 

"Just  so,"  said  Miss  Lilly,  pleased  to  see  how 
sensible  Chrissie  was.  "  Of  course,  he  must  not 
be  tired  or  allowed  to  excite  himself,  and  for  a 
few  days  he  is  sure  to  be  restless  and  fidgety  from 
weakness  ;  but  as  he  gradually  gets  stronger  again 
in  himself,  we  must  do  all  we  can  not  only  to 
amuse  him,  but  to  keep  up  his  interest  in  things 
and  people  outside  himself." 

"  I  know,"  said  Chrissie,  "  if  he  can  feel  he's  of 
any  good  to  anybody,  that  would  make  him  hap- 
pier than  anything.  Ferdy  has  never  been  selfish, 
has  he,  Miss  Lilly?" 

"No,  he  certainly  has  never  seemed  so,  and  I 
do  not  think  suffering  and  trial  such  as  he  may 
have  to  bear  will  make  him  so." 

Chrissie's  face  fell  again  at  the  two  sad 
words. 

Miss  Lilly  saw  it,  and  went  on  speaking  quietly. 
"  I  don't  mean  anything  very  dreadful,  dear,  but 
he  may  have  to  stay  in  bed  or  on  a  couch  for  a 
long  time,  and  of  course  that  cannot  but  be  a 
great  trial  to  an  active  boy.  Let  us  get  on  with 


JESSE   PIGGOT  77 

your  lessons  now,  Chrissie,  in  case  Ferdy  is  awake 
when  they  are  over." 

He  was  not  awake.  He  slept  a  good  part  of 
the  morning,  which  Mrs.  Ross,  sitting  beside  him, 
was  very  glad  of;  and  when  at  last  he  opened 
his  eyes  and  looked  about  him,  it  was  not  long 
before  a  smile  came  to  his  face,  and  he  cheered 
his  mother  by  saying  he  felt  "so  nicely  rested." 

"May  Chris  and  Miss  Lilly  come  back  now?" 
he  asked.  "Miss  Lilly  said  she  would  read 
aloud." 

Yes,  Chris  and  Miss  Lilly  would  be  only  too 
happy  to  come,  but  first  Ferdy  must  be  "good" 
and  drink  some  beef-tea,  which  was  standing  all 
ready. 

It  was  rather  an  effort  to  do  so.  Ferdy  did  not 
like  beef-tea,  and  he  was  not  at  all  hungry,  and 
he  just  wanted  to  lie  still  and  not  be  bothered. 
But  "To  please  me"  from  his  mother  was  enough, 
and  when  she  kissed  him  and  said  he  was  "a 
good  boy,"  he  told  her,  laughing,  that  he  felt  as 
if  he  were  a  little  baby  again. 

Chrissie's  face  brightened  when  she  heard  the 
sound  of  her  brother's  laugh. 


78  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

"  Are  you  feeling  better,  Ferdy  dear  ? "  she  said. 
"I  am  so  glad,  and  Miss  Lilly  has  brought  a 
story-book  of  her  own  that  we  have  never  read." 

"Oh,  how  nice!"  said  Ferdy.  "Do  tell  me 
the  name  of  the  book,  Miss  Lilly." 

"It  is  short  stories,"  she  replied.  "I  will  read 
you  the  names  of  some  of  them,  and  you  shall 
choose  which  you  would  like  best." 

The  titles  were  all  very  tempting,  but  Ferdy 
made  a  good  hit,  and  fixed  upon  one  of  the  most 
interesting  in  the  book,  so  said  Miss  Lilly.  It 
was  about  a  family  of  children  in  Iceland,  and 
though  it  was  rather  long,  they  wished  there  was 
more  of  it  when  it  came  to  an  end.  Then  Miss 
Lilly  looked  at  her  watch. 

"There  is  still  a  quarter  of  an  hour,"  she  said, 
as  she  turned  over  the  leaves.  "Yes,  here  is  a 
short  story,  which  will  just  about  fill  up  the 
time." 

Ferdy  and  Chrissie  looked  very  pleased,  but 
they  did  not  say  anything.  They  were  so  afraid 
of  losing  any  of  the  precious  fifteen  minutes. 


CHAPTER  VI 

A   FAIRY   TALE  —  AND    THOUGHTS 

"  THE  name  of  the  story,"  said  Miss  Lilly,  "  is 
'  A  Fairy  House,' "  and  then  she  went  on  to  read  it. 

"  Once  upon  a  time  there  was  a  fairy  who  had 
done  something  wrong,  and  for  this  reason  had  to 
be  punished.  I  do  not  know  exactly  what  it  was 
that  she  had  done,  perhaps  only  something  that 
we  should  scarcely  think  wrong  at  all,  such  as 
jumping  on  a  mushroom  before  it  was  full  grown, 
or  drinking  too  much  dew  out  of  a  lily-cup,  and 
thereby  leaving  the  poor  flower  thirsty  through 
the  hot  noontide.  Most  likely  it  was  nothing 
worse  than  something  of  this  kind,  but  still  it  was 
a  fault  that  had  to  be  corrected;  so  the  little  cul- 
prit was  banished  to  a  desert  part  of  fairyland,  a 
bleak  and  barren  spot,  which  you  would  scarcely 
have  thought  could  be  found  in  the  magic  country 
which  we  always  think  of  as  so  bright  and  beautiful. 

"There  she  stayed  with  nothing  to  do  for  some 
79 


80  THE   OKIEL   WINDOW 

time,  which  is  about  the  worst  punishment  a  fairy 
can  have  to  endure.  So  she  felt  very  pleased  when 
one  morning  there  came  a  messenger  direct  from 
the  queen,  charged  to  tell  the  little  exile  that  she 
should  be  forgiven  and  released  from  her  banish- 
ment as  soon  as  she  should  have  fulfilled  a  task 
which-  was  to  be  set  her.  This  task  was  to  build 
a  house,  which  to  us  may  sound  almost  impossible 
without  masons  and  carpenters  and  all  manner  of 
workmen.  But  fairy  houses  are  not  like  ours,  as 
you  will  hear. 

"The  messenger  led  the  fairy  to  a  spot  on  the 
moor  where  there  was  a  heap  of  stones. 

" '  These  are  what  you  are  to  build  with,'  he 
said.  'As  soon  as  the  house  is  completed  you 
may  send  a  butterfly  to  tell  the  queen,  and  she 
will  then  come  to  test  it.  If  it  is  quite  perfect, 
you  shall  return  at  once  with  her  to  the  court,' 
and  so  saying  he  fled  away. 

"  The  fairy  set  to  work  in  good  spirits.  She  had 
no  need  of  mortar,  or  scaffolding,  or  tools,  or  any- 
thing, indeed,  but  her  own  little  hands  and  the 
stones.  Nor  were  the  stones  cut  evenly  and  regu- 
larly, as  you  might  have  expected.  They  were  of 


A   FAIRY   TALE  —  AND   THOUGHTS  81 

all  sizes  and  shapes,  but  each  only  required  a  touch 
from  the  fairy's  fingers  at  once  to  fit  itself  into 
the  place  which  she  saw  it  was  intended  for.  So 
for  some  time  the  work  went  on  merrily.  It  was 
not  till  the  house  was  very  nearly  completed  that 
the  fairy  began  to  fear  something  was  wrong.  It 
lopped  a  little — a  very  little  —  to  one  side.  But 
there  was  nothing  to  be  done  that  she  could  see. 
So  she  finished  it  in  hopes  that  the  queen  would 
not  notice  the  tiny  imperfection,  and  despatched 
the  butterfly  to  announce  her  readiness  for  her 
royal  lady's  visit. 

"The  queen  arrived  promptly,  — fairy  queens  are 
never  unpunctual,  —  and  at  first  sight  she  smiled 
amiably. 

" c  You  have  worked  hard,'  she  said  to  the  poor 
fairy,  who  stood  there  half  hopeful  and  half  trem- 
bling. Then  her  Majesty  stepped  out  of  her 
chariot,  patting  her  winged  steeds  as  she  passed 
them,  and  entered  the  new  building,  followed  by 
the  little  architect. 

"  All  seemed  right  till  they  got  to  the  second 
floor,  when  the  queen  stopped  and  looked  round 
her  sharply. 


82  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

" '  Something  is  wrong  here,'  she  said.  '  The 
left-hand  wall  is  out  of  level.  I  suspected  it  down- 
stairs, but  waited  to  see.' 

"  The  fairy  builder  looked  very  distressed. 

" '  Did  you  know  there  was  anything  wrong  ? ' 
said  the  queen,  more  coldly  than  she  had  yet 
spoken. 

" '  I  —  I  was  afraid  it  was  a  little  crooked,'  the 
little  fairy  replied,  'but  I  hoped  perhaps  your 
Majesty  would  not  mind  it.' 

" '  My  messenger  told  you  that  the  building 
must  be  perfect J  replied  the  queen.  '  You  had  all 
the  stones,  every  one  ready  for  its  place.  If  you 
have  left  one  out,  even  the  smallest,  the  building 
cannot  be  perfect.  Ah,  well,  you  must  try  again,' 
and  so  saying  she  left  the  house,  followed  by 
the  builder.  As  soon  as  she  stepped  outside  she 
waved  her  wand,  and  in  an  instant  the  walls  had 
fallen  apart,  and  there  was  nothing  to  be  seen  but 
the  heap  of  stones  as  before. 

"  The  poor  little  fairy  sat  down  and  cried  as  she 
saw  the  queen's  chariot  disappear  in  the  air. 

" '  I  don't  know  what  to  do,'  she  thought.  '  It 
would  be  just  the  same  thing  if  I  set  to  work  to 


A   FAIRY  TALE  —  AND   THOUGHTS  83 

build  it  up  again.  I  am  sure  I  used  every  stone, 
down  to  some  quite  tiny  ones  ;  but  still  it  is  no 
good  crying  about  it,'  and  she  started  up,  deter- 
mined to  try  afresh. 

"As  she  did  so,  a  very  slight  sound  caught  her 
ears.  Out  of  her  pocket  had  rolled  a  very  small 
stone,  a  tiny,  insignificant  pebble,  probably  smaller 
than  any  she  had  used  in  the  building. 

" '  That's  the  very  pebble  I  found  in  my  shoe 
the  other  day,'  she  exclaimed.  4I  must  have 
picked  it  up  with  my  handkerchief,'  and  she  was 
just  about  to  fling  it  away  when  a  new  idea  struck 
her.  Was  it  possible  that  this  little  atom  of  a  stone 
—  or  rather  its  absence  —  was  what  had  spoilt  the 
whole  piece  of  work?  It  might  be  so,  for  had  not 
the  queen  said  that  the  slightest  little  scrap  of 
material  wanting  would  spoil  the  perfection  of  the 
building. 

"And,  full  of  fresh  hope,  she  carefully  placed 
the  little  stone  on  the  top  of  the  heap  and  began 
again.  All  went  well.  Deep  down  in  the  founda- 
tions, unseen  but  far  from  unneeded,  the  tiny 
pebble  found  its  own  place,  and  before  the  sun 
set,  the  magic  edifice  stood  perfect,  gleaming 


84  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

white  and  fair  in  the  radiance  of  the  evening 
sky. 

"It  was  without  fear  or  misgiving  this  time  that 
the  fairy  sent  off  her  butterfly  messenger  the  next 
morning;  and  her  joy  was  complete  when  the 
queen  not  only  took  her  back  to  court  in  her  own 
chariot,  but  as  a  proof  of  her  perfect  restoration 
to  favour,  transported  the  pretty  white  house  by 
a  wave  of  her  wand  to  the  centre  of  a  lovely  gar- 
den near  her  own  palace,  and  gave  it  to  the  fairy 
as  her  home." 

Miss  Lilly  stopped  reading.  The  children  looked 
up,  pleased  but  a  little  puzzled. 

"What  a  funny  story,"  said  Ferdy;  "it's  nice, 
but  isn't  it  more  what  you  call  a  —  I  forget  the 
word." 

"  Allegory,  do  you  mean  ? "  said  Miss  Lilly. 
"  Well  yes,  perhaps.  Many  fairy  stories  have  a 
kind  of  meaning  behind  them,  but  I  don't  think 
this  one  is  difficult  to  guess." 

"  It  means,  I  suppose,"  said  Chrissie,  "  that  every- 
thing is  of  use,  if  you  can  find  the  right  place 
for  it." 

"A  little  more  than  that,"  said  Miss  Lilly.     "We 


TOOK  HER  BACK  TO  COURT  IN    HER   OWN   CHARIOT. — P.   84. 


A    FAIRY   TALE  —  AND   THOUGHTS  85 

might  put  it  this  way  —  that  everybody,  even  the 
smallest  and  weakest,  has  his  or  her  own  place  in 
the  house  of-  "  and  she  hesitated. 

"In  the  house  of  the  world?"   said  Ferdy. 

"In  the  house  of  life,"  said  Miss  Lilly  after 
thinking  a  little.  "  That  says  it  better." 

Then,  seeing  that  Ferdy  was  looking  rather 
tired,  she  told  Chrissie  to  run  off  and  get  dressed 
for  going  a  walk. 

"  I  will  send  Flowers  to  sit  with  you,"  she  said, 
as  she  stooped  to  kiss  the  little  invalid,  "and  in 
the  afternoon  Chrissie  and  I  will  come  back  again 
for  an  hour  or  so  if  you  are  not  asleep." 

"I  won't  be  asleep,"  said  Ferdy;  "I  have  slept 
quite  enough  to  last  me  all  day.  Miss  Lilly  — " 

"What,  dear?"  for  the  boy's  eyes  looked  as  if 
he  wanted  to  ask  her  something.  "Would  you 
like  us  to  bring  you  in  some  flowers?  —  not  garden 
ones,  but  wild  ones.  There  are  still  primroses  — 
and  violets,  of  course  —  in  the  woods." 

"  Yes,"  Ferdy  replied,  "  I  should  like  them  very 
much.  And  could  you  get  some  moss,  Miss  Lilly? 
I  would  like  to  arrange  them  with  moss,  in  that 
sort  of  birds'-nesty-looking  way." 


86  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

"I  know  how  you  mean,"  the  young  lady  said. 
"  Yes,  we  will  bring  you  some  moss.  And,  by 
the  bye,  Ferdy,  if  I  had  some  wire  I  could  show 
you  how  to  make  moss  baskets  that  last  for  ever 
so  long  to  put  flowers  in.  You  put  a  little  tin 
or  cup  to  hold  water  in  the  middle  of  the  basket 
—  the  moss  quite  hides  it,  —  and  then  you  can 
always  freshen  up  the  moss  by  sousing  it  in 
water." 

"  What  a  nice  word  *  sousing '  is,"  said  Ferdy, 
in  his  quaint  old-fashioned  way.  "It  makes  you 
think  of  bathing  in  the  sea.  Miss  Lilly,  do  you 
think  I'll  ever  be  able  to  bathe  in  the  sea  again? 
I  do  so  love  it.  And  then  there's  skating  and 
cricket,  and  when  I  go  to  school  there'll  be  foot- 
ball. Papa  was  so  good  at  football  when  he  was 
at  school.  I  wonder  — "  he  stopped  short.  "  I 
wonder,"  he  went  on  again,  "  if  I'll  ever  be  able 
for  any  of  those  things.  Boys  who  are  all  right, 
well  boys,  don't  think  of  the  difference  being  like 
me  makes." 

"  No,  they  don't,"  his  governess  agreed.  "  But 
there  is  still  a  good  long  while  before  you  would 
be  going  to  school,  Ferdy  dear." 


A   FAIRY   TALE  —  AND   THOUGHTS  87 

"I  know,"  he  said,  though  he  could  not  keep 
back  a  little  sigh.  "I've  only  been  two  days  in  bed, 
but  I  have  thought  such  a  lot.  Miss  Lilly,  there 
was  something  I  wanted  to  ask  you.  It's  about 
that  boy,  Jesse  Piggot.  I  was  thinking  about  him 
when  I  was  awake  in  the  night.  If  you  meet 
him,  please  thank  him  for  asking  if  I  was  better, 
and  do  you  think  mamma  would  let  him  come 
in  one  day  to  see  me?  It's  partly  that  story, 
too." 

Miss  Lilly  did  not  at  first  understand. 

"The  'nallegory,"  said  Ferdy,  "about  all  the 
stones  being  some  good." 

Miss  Lilly's  face  cleared;  she  looked  pleased  and 
interested. 

"Oh  yes,"  she  said. 

"I  haven't  got  it  straight  in  my  head  yet," 
said  Ferdy.  "I  want  to  think  a  lot  more.  It's 
partly  about  me  myself,  and  partly  about  Jesse 
and  boys  like  him.  Oh,  I  do  wish  I  could  be 
on  the  sofa  in  the  window,"  he  added  suddenly. 
"  I'd  like  to  see  the  children  going  to  school  and 
coming  back." 

"  I  hope  you  will   be  on  the  sofa  in  a  very  few 


88  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

days,  dear,"  said  Miss  Lilly.  "But  I  must  go  — 
Chrissie  will  be  waiting  for  me.  I  hope  we  shall 
get  some  nice  flowers  and  moss,  and  to-morrow  I 
will  bring  some  wire  and  green  thread  that  I 
have  at  home  on  purpose  for  such  things." 

When  she  had  gone  Flowers  made  her  appear- 
ance. She  sat  down  with  her  work,  and  Ferdy 
lay  so  still,  that  she  thought  he  must  have  fallen 
asleep  again.  But  no,  Ferdy  was  not  asleep,  only 
thinking;  and  to  judge  by  the  look  on  his  face, 
his  thoughts  were  interesting. 

The  moss  baskets  proved  a  great  success  as 
well  as  a  great  amusement.  Ferdy's  nimble  fingers 
seemed  to  have  grown  even  more  nimble  and 
delicate  in  touch  now  that  he  was  forced  to  lie 
still.  They  twisted  the  wire  into  all  sorts  of 
new  shapes,  some  quaint,  some  graceful,  that 
Miss  Lilly  had  never  even  thought  of,  and  when 
some  little  old  cups  without  handles  or  tiny  jelly 
pots  or  tins  were  found  to  fit  in,  so  that  the 
flowers  could  have  plenty  of  water  to  keep  them 
fresh,  you  cannot  think  how  pretty  the  moss 
baskets  looked.  The  children's  mother  was  quite 
delighted  with  one  that  was  presented  to  her,  and 


A  FAIRY   TALE  —  AND   THOUGHTS  89 

she  smiled  more  cheerfully  than  she  had  yet  done 
since  Ferdy's  accident,  to  see  him  so  busy  and 
happy. 

And  time  went  on.  It  is  very  curious  how 
quickly  we  get  accustomed  to  things  —  even  to 
great  overwhelming  changes,  which  seem  at  first 
as  if  they  must  utterly  upset  and  make  an  end  of 
everything.  It  is  a  great  blessing  that  we  do  get 
used  to  what  is.  When  I  was  a  little  girl  I 
remember  reading  a  story  about  the  old  proverb 
which  in  those  days  was  to  be  found  as  one  of 
the  model  lines  in  a  copy-book.  This  one  stood 
for  the  letter  "  C,"  and  it  was,  "  Custom  commonly 
makes  things  easy." 

Somehow  the  words  fixed  themselves  in  my 
memory.  You  don't  know  how  often  and  in  what 
very  far  differing  circumstances  I  have  said  them 
over  to  myself;  sometimes  in  hopefulness,  some- 
times when  I  had  to  face  sorrows  that  made  me 
feel  as  if  I  could  not  face  them,  "  Custom  com- 
monly" seemed  to  be  whispered  into  my  ear,  as 
if  by  a  gentle  little  fairy  voice.  And  I  found  it 
came  true,  thank  God !  It  is  one  of  the  ways 
in  which  He  helps  us  to  bear  our  sorrows  and 


90  THE  ORIEL   WINDOW 

master  our  difficulties,  above  all,  real  sorrows  and 
real  difficulties.  Fanciful  ones,  or  foolish  ones 
that  we  make  for  ourselves,  are  often  in  the  end 
the  hardest  to  bear  and  to  overcome. 

It  was  so  with  little  Ferdy  and  his  friends. 
One  month  after  that  sad  birthday  that  had  begun 
so  brightly,  no  stranger  suddenly  visiting  the 
Watch  House  would  have  guessed  from  the  faces 
and  voices  of  its  inmates  how  lately  and  how 
terribly  the  blow  had  fallen  upon  them.  All 
seemed  bright  and  cheerful,  and  even  the  boy's 
own  countenance,  though  pale  and  thin,  had  a 
happy  and  peaceful  expression.  More  than  that 
indeed.  He  was  often  so  merry  that  you-  could 
hear  his  laugh  ringing  through  the  house  if  you 
were  only  passing  up  or  down  stairs,  or  standing 
in  the  hall  below. 

By  this  time  things  had  settled  themselves  down 
into  a  regular  plan.  The  oriel  room  was  now 
Ferdy's  "  drawing-room  "  —  or  drawing-room  and 
dining-room  in  one,  as  he  said  himself.  It  was 
his  day  room,  and  every  night  and  morning  his 
father  or  Thomas,  the  footman,  carried  him  most 
carefully  and  gently  from  and  to  the  invalid 


A  FAIRY  TALE  —  AND   THOUGHTS  91 

couch  in  his  favourite  window  to  bed,  or  from 
bed  in  his  own  little  room. 

This  was  a  delightful  change.  Ferdy  declared 
he  felt  "almost  quite  well  again"  when  the  day 
came  on  which  he  was  allowed  "to  go  to  bed 
properly,"  and  be  attired  nicely  the  next  morning 
in  a  little  dressing-gown  made  to  look  as  like  a 
sailor  suit  as  possible. 

His  general  health  was  good,  thanks  to  the 
excellent  care  that  was  taken  of  him,  and  thanks 
too  to  his  own  cheerful  character.  There  were 
times,  of  course,  when  he  did  find  it  difficult  to 
be  bright  —  lovely  summer  afternoons  when  a  sharp 
pang  pierced  his  little  heart  at  the  sight  of  the 
school  children  racing  home  in  their  careless 
healthful  ness,  or  fresh  sweet  mornings  when  he 
longed  with  a  sort  of  thirstiness  to  be  able  to 
go  for  a  walk  in  the  woods  with  Christine  and 
Miss  Lilly.  But  these  sad  feelings  did  not  last 
long,  though  the  days  went  on,  and  still  the 
doctor  shook  his  head  at  the  idea  even  of  his 
being  carried  down  to  the  lawn  and  laid  there, 
as  Ferdy  had  begun  to  hope  might  be  allowed. 

The  oriel  window  was  his  greatest  comfort.     It 


92  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

really  was  a  delightful  window.  On  one  side  or 
other  there  was  sure  to  be  something  to  look  at, 
and  Ferdy  was  quick  to  find  interest  in  every- 
thing. He  loved  to  see  the  school  children,  some 
of  whom  were  already  known  to  him,  some 
whom  he  learnt  to  know  by  sight  from  watching 
them  pass. 

But  one  boyish  figure  he  missed.  All  this  time 
Jesse  Piggot  had  never  been  seen.  Miss  Lilly 
had  looked  out  for  him,  as  Ferdy  had  asked  her 
to  do,  but  in  vain.  And  it  was  not  till  within 
a  day  or  two  of  a  month  since  the  accident  that 
she  heard  from  some  of  the  Draymoor  people  that 
the  boy  had  been  taken  off  "on  a  job"  by  one  of 
his  rough  cousins  at  the  colliery  village. 

"And  no  good  will  it  do  him  neither,"  added 
the  woman.  "That's  a  lad  as  needs  putting  up 
to  no  manner  o'  mischief,  as  my  master  says." 

"  Wasn't  it  a  pity  to  take  him  away  from 
Farmer  Meare's?"  Miss  Lilly  added. 

"They  hadn't  really  room  for  him  there,"  said 
the  woman.  "But  Farmer  Meare  is  a  good  man. 
He  says  he'll  take  the  poor  lad  back  again  after 
a  bit  when  there'll  be  more  work  that  he  can  do." 


A   FAIKY   TALE  —  AND   THOUGHTS  93 

Miss  Lilly  told  this  over  to  the  children  the 
next  day.  Ferdy  looked  up  with  interest  in  his 
eyes. 

"I  hope  he  will  come  back  again  soon,"  he 
said.  "  You  know,  Miss  Lilly,  I  never  finished 
talking  about  him  to  you.  I  was  thinking  of  him 
again  a  lot  yesterday;  it  was  the  birds,  they  were 
chattering  so  when  I  was  alone  in  the  afternoon. 
I  was  half  asleep,  I  think,  and  hearing  them 
reminded  me  in  a  dreamy  way  of  birds'  nests  and 
eggs,  and  then,  through  that,  of  Jesse  Piggot  and 
what  the  fairy  story  put  in  my  head  about  him." 

"What  was  it?"  asked  Miss  Lilly. 

"It's  rather  difficult  to  explain,"  Ferdy  replied. 
"I  was  thinking,  you  see,  that  if  I  never  get  well 
and  strong  again  I  wouldn't  seem  any  use  to  any- 
body. It  does  seem  as  if  some  people  were  no 
use.  And  Jesse  Piggot  seems  always  in  every- 
body's way,  as  if  there  was  no  place  for  him, 
though  quite  different  from  me,  of  course,  for 
everybody's  so  kind  to  me.  And  then  I  thought 
of  the  stones,  and  how  they  all  fitted  in,  and  I 
wondered  what  I  could  get  to  do,  and  I  thought 
perhaps  I  might  help  Jesse  some  way." 


94  THE  ORIEL  WINDOW 

Miss  Lilly  looked  at  Ferdy.  There  was  a  very 
kind  light  in  her  eyes. 

"Yes,  Ferdy  dear,"  she  said.  "I  think  I  under- 
stand. When  Jesse  comes  back  we  must  talk 
more  about  it,  and  perhaps  we  shall  find  out 
some  way  of  fitting  him  into  his  place.  Stop 
dear,  I  think  I  had  better  look  at  your  knitting; 
you  are  getting  it  a  little  too  tight  on  the  needles." 

Ferdy  handed  it  to  her  with  a  little  sigh.  He 
did  not  care  very  much  for  knitting,  and  he  had 
also  a  feeling  that  it  was  girls'  work.  But  it  had 
been  very  difficult  to  find  any  occupation  for  him, 
as  he  could  not  go  on  making  moss  baskets 
always,  and  knitting  seemed  the  best  thing  for  the 
moment.  He  was  now  making  a  sofa  blanket  for 
his  mother,  in  stripes  of  different  colours,  and 
Miss  Lilly  and  Christine  were  helping  him  with 
it,  as  it  would  otherwise  have  been  too  long  a 
piece  of  work. 

"I'm  rather  tired  of  knitting,"  he  said,  "now 
that  I  know  how  to  do  it.  I  liked  it  better  at 
first,  but  there's  no  planning  about  it  now." 

"We  must  think  of  a  change  of  work  for  you 
before  long,"  said  Miss  Lilly,  as  she  quickly  fin- 


A   FAIRY  TALE  —  AND   THOUGHTS  95 

ished  a  row  so  as  to  get  the  stitches  rather  looser 
again.  "  Don't  do  any  more  this  morning,  Ferdy. 
Lie  still  and  talk.  Tell  me  about  the  birds  chat- 
tering." 

"They  are  so  sweet  and  funny,"  said  Ferdy. 
"  Sometimes  I  fancy  I'm  getting  to  know  their 
different  voices.  And  there's  one  that  stands  just 
at  the  corner  of  the  window-sill  outside,  that  I 
really  think  I  could  draw.  I  know  the  look  of 
him  so  well.  Or  I'll  tell  you  what,"  he  went  on. 
"I  could  figure  him,  I'm  sure  I  could,  better  than 
draw  him." 

"  Figure  him !  what  do  you  mean  ?  "  said  Chris- 
sie.  "What  funny  words  you  say,  Ferdy." 

"Do  you  mean  modelling  it?"  asked  Miss  Lilly. 
"Have  you  ever  seen  any  modelling?" 

"No,"  said  Ferdy,  "I  don't  understand." 

"I  mean  using  some  soft  stuff,  like  clay  or 
wax,  and  shaping  it,  partly  with  your  fingers  and 
partly  with  tools,"  replied  Miss  Lilly.  "I  don't 
know  much  about  it,  but  I  remember  one  of  my 
brothers  doing  something  of  the  kind." 

Ferdy  reflected. 

"It   does   sound    rather   fun,"   he    said,   "  but   I 


96  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

didn't  mean  that.  I  meant  cutting — with  a  nice 
sharp  knife  and  soft  wood.  I  am  sure  I  could 
figure  things  that  way.  I  know  what  made  me 
think  of  it.  It  was  a  story  about  the  village  boys 
in  Switzerland,  who  cut  out  things  in  the  winter 
evenings." 

"You  mean  carving,"  said  Christine;  "you 
shouldn't  call  it  cutting.  Yes,  I've  always 
thought  it  must  be  lovely  work,  but  you  would 
need  to  be  awfully  clever  to  do  it." 

"I'd  like  to  try,"  said  the  boy.  "When  my 
sofa's  put  up  a  little  higher  at  the  back,  the  way 
Mr.  Stern  lets  it  be  now,  I  can  use  my  hands 
quite  well.  You  needn't  be  afraid  I'd  cut  myself. 
Oh,  it  would  be  jolly  to  cut  out  birds,  and  stags' 
heads,  and  things  like  that ! " 

"Stags'  heads  would  be  awfully  difficult,"  said 
Christine,  "  because  of  the  sticking-out  horns  — 
they're  just  like  branches  with  lots  of  twigs  on 
them.  What  is  it  you  call  them,  Miss  Lilly  ? " 

"  Antlers,  isn't  that  what  you  mean  ?  "  Miss  Lilly 
replied.  "Yes,  they  would  be  very  difficult.  You 
would  have  to  begin  with  something  much  simpler, 
Ferdy." 


A  FAIRY  TALE  —  AND   THOUGHTS  97 

"I  suppose  I  thought  of  stags  because  the  Swiss 
boys  in  the  story  cut  out  stags'  heads,"  said  Ferdy. 
"I  think  I'd  try  a  swallow's  head.  When  I  shut 
my  eyes  I  can  see  one  quite  plain.  Miss  Lilly, 
don't  you  think  I  might  try  to  draw  one?  If  I 
had  a  piece  of  paper  and  a  nice  pencil  — " 

Just  then  the  door  opened  and  his  mother  came 
in.  Her  face  brightened  up  as  soon  as  she  caught 
sight  of  Ferdy's  cheerful  expression  and  heard  his 
eager  tone  —  it  was  always  so  now.  Since  the 
accident  Mrs.  Ross  seemed  a  kind  of  mirror  of  her 
boy;  if  he  was  happy  and  comfortable  her  anxious 
face  grew  smooth  and  peaceful ;  if  he  had  had  a 
bad  night,  or  was  tired,  or  in  pain,  she  looked  ten 
years  older. 

And  Miss  Lilly,  who,  though  still  quite  young 
herself,  was  very  thoughtful  and  sensible,  saw  this 
with  anxiety. 

"It  will  never  do  for  things  to  go  on  like  this," 
she  said  to  herself,  "the  strain  will  break  down 
poor  Mrs.  Ross.  And  if  Ferdy  is  never  to  be  quite 
well  again,  or  even  if  it  takes  a  long  time  for  him 
to  recover,  it  will  get  worse  and  worse.  We  must 
try  to  find  something  for  him  to  do  that  will  take 


98  THE  ORIEL   WINDOW 

him  out  of  himself,  as  people  say,  —  something 
that  will  make  him  feel  himself  of  use,  poor  dear, 
as  he  would  like  to  be.  I  wonder  if  my  grand- 
father could  speak  to  Mrs.  Ross  and  make  her  see 
that  she  should  try  not  to  be  always  so  terribly 
anxious." 

For  old  Dr.  Lilly  was  a  very  wise  man.  In  his 
long  life  he  had  acquired  a  great  deal  of  know- 
ledge besides  "book-learning";  he  had  learnt  to 
read  human  beings  too. 

But  just  now  Miss  Lilly's  thoughtful  face  bright- 
ened up  also  as  Ferdy's  mother  came  in. 

"We  are  talking  about  wood-carving,"  she  said. 
"  I  am  going  to  ask  my  grandfather  about  it. 
And  Ferdy  would  like  to  prepare  for  it  by  draw- 
ing a  little  again  —  he  was  getting  on  nicely  just 
before  he  was  ill." 

"I'd  like  a  slate,"  said  Ferdy,  "because  I  could 
rub  out  so  easily;  only  drawings  on  a  slate  never 
look  pretty  —  white  on  black  isn't  right." 

"  /  know  what,"  exclaimed  Christine.  "  Mamma, 
do  let  us  get  Ferdy  one  of  those  beautiful  white 
china  slates  —  a  big  one,  the  same  as  your  little 
one  that  lies  on  the  hall  table  for  messages." 


A   FAIRY  TALE  —  AND   THOUGHTS  99 

Ferdy's  eyes  sparkled  with  pleasure. 

"  That  would  do  lovelily,"  he  said. 

So  it  was  arranged  that  Christine  should  drive 
with  her  mother  that  afternoon  to  the  nearest 
town  —  not  Whittingham,  but  a  smaller  town  in 
another  direction,  called  Freston,  in  quest  of  a 
good-sized  white  china  slate. 


CHAPTER  VII 


Miss  LILLY  and  Ferdy  spent  a  quiet  hour  or 
two  together  after  Christine  and  her  mother  had 
set  off.  Then,  as  it  was  really  a  half-holiday,  and 
Miss  Lilly  usually  went  home  immediately  after 
luncheon  on  half-holidays,  she  said  good-bye  to 
Ferdy,  after  seeing  him  comfortably  settled  and 
Flowers  within  hail,  and  started  on  her  own  way 
home. 

She  was  anxious  to  have  a  talk  with  her  grand- 
father and  ask  his  advice  as  to  the  best  way  of 
helping  the  little  boy  and  his  mother,  and  keeping 
off  the  dangers  to  both  which  she  saw  in  the 
future. 

It  was  a  lovely  day  —  quite  a  summer  day  now 
—  for  it  was  some  way  on  in  June,  and  this  year 
the  weather  had  been  remarkably  beautiful  —  never 
before  quite  so  beautiful  since  she  had  come  to 
live  in  the  neighbourhood,  thought  the  young  girl 

100 


AN    UNEXPECTED   PIG'S    HEAD  101 

to  herself,  and  she  sighed  a  little  as  she  pictured 
in  her  own  mind  what  happy  days  she  and  her 
two  little  pupils  might  have  had  in  the  woods  and 
fields  round  about  Evercombe. 

"  Poor  Ferdy,"  she  thought,  "  I  wonder  if  he 
really  ever  will  get  well  again.  That  is,  in  a  way, 
the  hardest  part  of  it  all  —  the  not  knowing.  It 
makes  it  so  difficult  to  judge  how  to  treat  him  in 
so  many  little  ways." 

She  was  not  very  far  from  her  own  home  by 
this  time,  and  looking  up  along  the  sunny  road, 
she  saw  coming  towards  her  a  familiar  figure. 

"  I  do  believe  it  is  Jesse  Piggot,"  she  said  to 
herself.  "How  curious,  just  when  I'd  been  think- 
ing about  him  the  last  day  or  two!" 

Jesse  stopped  as  he  came  up  to  her,  and  it 
seemed  to  Miss  Lilly  that  his  face  grew  a  little 
red,  though  bashfulness  was  certainly  not  one  of 
Jesse's  weak  points. 

"  Why,  Jesse  ! "  she  exclaimed,  "  so  you've  got 
back  again.  How  did  you  get  on  while  you 
were  away?" 

Jesse's  answer  to  this  question  was  rather  indis- 
tinct. He  murmured  something  that  sounded  like 


102  THE  ORIEL  WINDOW 

"All  right,  thank  you,  miss,"  but  added  almost 
immediately  in  a  brighter  tone,  "How  is  Master 
Ferdy,  please?" 

"  Pretty  well,"  Miss  Lilly  replied ;  "  that  is  to 
say,  he  doesn't  suffer  now,  and  we  do  all  we  can 
to  cheer  him  up." 

Jesse's  face  grew  concerned  and  half  puzzled. 

"Ain't  he  all  right  again  by  this  time?"  he 
asked.  "  I  thought  he'd  have  been  running  about 
same  as  before,  and  a-riding  on  his  new  pony." 

Miss  Lilly  shook  her  head  rather  sadly. 

"  Oh  no,"  she  said,  "  there's  no  chance  of  any- 
thing like  that  for  a  long  time" — "if  ever,"  she 
added  to  herself.  "The  kind  of  accident  that  hap- 
pened to  Master  Ferdy,"  she  went  on,  "is  almost 
the  worst  of  any  to  cure  —  worse  than  a  broken 
leg,  or  a  broken  head  even." 

Jesse  said  nothing  for  a  moment  or  two,  but 
something  in  his  manner  showed  the  young  lady 
that  his  silence  did  not  come  from  indifference. 
He  had  something  in  his  hand,  a  stick  of  some 
kind,  and  as  Miss  Lilly's  eyes  fell  on  it,  she  saw 
that  he  had  been  whittling  it  with  a  rough  pocket- 
knife. 


I'VE  DONE  'EM  BEFORE  FROM  ONE  OF  THE  OLD  SQUEAKERS  UP 

AT  THE  FARM."  — P.  103. 


AN   UNEXPECTED   PIG'S   HEAD  103 

"What  is  that,  Jesse?"  she  said.  "Are  you 
making  something?" 

The  boy's  face  grew  distinctly  redder  now. 

"'Tis  nothing,  miss,"  he  said,  looking  very 
ashamed,  "  only  a  bit  o'  nonsense  as  I  thought'd 
make  Master  Ferdy  laugh.  I've  done  'em  be- 
fore from  one  of  the  old  squeakers  up  at  the 
farm." 

And  he  half-reluctantly  allowed  Miss  Lilly  to 
take  out  of  his  hand  a  small  stick,  the  top  of 
which  he  had  chipped  into  a  rough,  but  unmistak- 
able likeness  to  a  pig's  head. 

Miss  Lilly  almost  started.  It  seemed  such  a 
curious  coincidence  that  just  as  she  was  going  to 
consult  her  grandfather  about  some  new  interest 
and  occupation  for  Ferdy,  and  just,  too,  as  the 
idea  of  her  little  pupil's  being  of  use  to  this  poor 
waif  and  stray  of  a  boy  had  been  put  into  her 
mind  by  Ferdy  himself,  Jesse  should  turn  up 
again,  and  in  the  new  character  of  a  possible 
art !  For  though  not  an  artist  of  any  kind  her- 
self, she  had  quick  perceptions  and  a  good  eye, 
and  in  the  queer,  grotesque  carving  that  the  boy 
held  in  his  hand  she  felt  almost  sure  that  she  de- 


104  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

tected  signs  of  something  —  well,  of  talent,  how- 
ever uncultivated,  to  say  the  least. 

Jesse  did  not  understand  her  start  of  surprise 
and  the  moment's  silence  that  followed  it.  He 
thought  she  was  shocked,  and  he  grew  still  redder 
as  he  hastily  tried  to  hide  the  poor  piggy  in  his 
hand. 

"I  didn't  think  as  any  one  'ud  see  it  till  I  met 
Master  Ferdy  hisself  some  time ;  he's  partial  to 
pigs,  is  Master  Ferdy,  though  no  one  can  say  as 
they're  pretty.  But  I  thought  it'd  make  him 
laugh." 

"  My  dear  boy,"  exclaimed  the  young  girl  eagerly, 
"  don't  hide  away  the  stick.  You  don't  understand. 
I  am  very  pleased  with  your  pig  —  very  pleased 
indeed.  Have  you  done  other  things  like  it?  I 
should  like  to  — "  but  then  she  stopped  for  a  mo- 
ment. She  must  not  say  anything  to  put  it  into 
Jesse's  scatter-brained  head  that  he  was  a  genius, 
and  might  make  his  fortune  by  wood-carving.  Of 
all  things,  as  she  knew  by  what  she  had  heard  of 
him,  it  was  important  that  he  should  learn  to 
stick  to  his  work  and  work  hard.  So  she  went  on 
quietly,  "  I  am  sure  Master  Ferdy  will  like  the 


AN    UNEXPECTED    PIG'S    HEAD  105 

pig  very  much,  and  he  will  think  it  very  kind  of 
you  to  have  thought  of  pleasing  him.  Let  me 
look  at  it  again,"  and  she  took  it  out  of  Jesse's 
rather  unwilling  hands. 

"It  is  not  quite  finished  yet,  I  see,"  she  said, 
"but  I  think  it  is  going  to  be  a  very  nice,  comi- 
cal pig." 

And,  indeed,  the  grotesque  expression  of  the 
ears  and  snout  —  of  the  whole,  indeed  —  was  excel- 
lent. You  could  scarcely  help  smiling  when  you 
looked  at  it. 

Jesse's  red  face  grew  brighter. 

"  Oh  no,  miss,"  he  said,  "  it  bain't  finished.  I'm 
going  to  black  the  eyes  a  bit  —  just  a  touch,  you 
know,  with  a  pencil.  And  there's  a  lot  more  to  do 
to  the  jowl.  I'm  going  to  have  a  good  look  at  old 
Jerry  —  that's  the  oldest  porker  at  the  farm  —  when 
he's  havin'  his  supper  to-night;  you  can  see  his 
side  face  beautiful  then,"  and  Jesse's  eyes  twinkled 
with  fun. 

"  Oh,  then  you  are  back  at  the  farm  —  at  Mr. 
Meare's?"  said  Miss  Lilly.  "I  am  glad  of  that." 

"  I'm  not  to  say  reg'lar  there,"  said  Jesse,  "  only 
half  on  —  for  odd  jobs  so  to  say.  I've  been  a  mes- 


106  THE   OKIEL   WINDOW 

sage  to  the  smithy  at  Bollins  just  now,"  and  cer- 
tainly, to  judge  by  the  leisurely  way  in  which  he 
had  been  sauntering  along  when  Ferdy's  govern- 
ess first  caught  sight  of  him,  his  "odd  jobs"  did 
not  seem  to  be  of  a  very  pressing  description. 

"  That's  a  pity,"  said  the  lady. 

"Farmer  says  as  he'll  take  me  on  reg'lar  after  a 
bit,"  added  Jesse. 

"And  where  are  you  living,  then?"  inquired 
Miss  Lilly. 

"  They  let  me  sleep  in  the  barn,"  said  Jesse. 
"And  Sundays  I  goes  to  my  folk  at  Draymoor, 
though  I'd  just  as  lief  stop  away.  Cousin  Tom 
and  I  don't  hit  it  off,  and  it's  worser  when  he's 
sober.  Lord,  miss,  he  did  hide  me  when  he  was 
away  on  that  navvy  job ! "  and  Jesse  gave  a  queer 
sort  of  grin. 

Miss  Lilly  shuddered. 

"And  what  do  you  do  in  the  evenings?"  she 
asked. 

Jesse  looked  uncomfortable. 

"Loaf  about  a  bit,"  he  said  vaguely. 

"  That  isn't  a  very  good  way  of  spending  time," 
she  said. 


AN  UNEXPECTED   PIG'S   HEAD  107 

Jesse  screwed  up  his  lips  as  if  he  were  going  to 
whistle,  but  a  sudden  remembrance  of  the  respect 
due  to  the  young  lady  stopped  him. 

"  What's  I  to  do  else,  miss  ? "  he  said. 

"  Well,  you've  something  to  do  to-night,  any 
way,"  she  replied.  "If  you  can  finish  the  pig's 
head,  I  am  sure  Master  Ferdy  will  be  delighted  to 
have  it.  I  won't  tell  him  about  it,"  as  she  detected 
a  slight  look  of  disappointment  on  Jesse's  face, 
"oh  no,  it  must  be  a  surprise.  But  if  you  call 
at  the  Watch  House  the  first  time  you  are  pass- 
ing after  it  is  ready,  I  will  see  if  I  can  get  leave 
for  you  to  see  him  yourself  for  a  few  minutes. 
The  afternoon  would  be  £he  best  time,  I  think." 

The  boy's  face  beamed. 

"Thank  you,  miss;  thank  you  kindly,"  he  said. 
"I'll  see  if  I  can't  get  it  done  to-night." 

And  then  the  two  parted  with  a  friendly  fare- 
well on  each  side. 

Miss  Lilly  had  a  good  deal  to  think  of  as  she 
finished  her  walk  home.  She  felt  quite  excited 
at  the  discovery  she  had  made,  and  eager  to  tell 
her  grandfather  about  it.  And  she  was  all  the 
more  pleased  to  see  him  standing  at  the  gate 


108  THE  ORIEL    WINDOW 

watching  for  her  as  she  came  within  sight,  for 
Dr.  Lilly  had  something  to  tell  her  on  his  part, 
too. 

"You  are  late,  my  dear,''  he  said,  "late,  that  is 
to  say,  for  a  Wednesday." 

"Yes,  gran,"  she  replied,  "I  had  to  stay  an 
hour  or  so  with  poor  Ferdy,  as  Mrs.  Ross  and 
Christine  were  going  out  early." 

"Then  there  is  nothing  wrong  with  him,"  said 
the  old  doctor.  "I  get  quite  nervous  about  the 
poor  little  chap  myself.  But  that  was  not  why  I 
was  coming  to  meet  you,  Eva;  it  was  to  tell  you 
of  an  invitation  I  have  from  my  old  friend,  Mr. 
Linham,  to  spend  two  or  three  weeks  with  him 
travelling  in  Cornwall.  I  should  much  like  to  go, 
I  don't  deny,  except  for  leaving  you  alone,  and  I 
must  decide  at  once,  as  he  wants  to  know." 

"Of  course  you  must  go,  dear  gran,"  replied  the 
girl.  "I  don't  mind  being  alone  in  the  least.  I 
daresay  Mrs.  Ross  would  be  glad  to  have  me  more 
with  them,  especially  if  —  oh  grandfather,  I  have 
a  lot  to  talk  to  you  about ! " 

And  then  she  told  him  all  she  had  been  think- 
ing about  Ferdy,  and  the  curious  coincidence  of 


AN   UNEXPECTED   PIG'S   HEAD  109 

meeting  Jesse  Piggot,  and  the  discovery  of  his 
unsuspected  talent  for  wood-carving. 

Dr.  Lilly  listened  with  great  interest.  He  was 
pleased  with  Eva's  good  sense  in  not  praising  the 
old  porker's  head  too  much,  and  he  quite  agreed 
with  her  that  it  would  be  well  worth  while  to 
encourage  little  Ferdy's  wish  to  try  his  own  skill 
in  the  same  direction. 

"I  believe  I  know  the  very  man  to  give  him  a 
little  help  to  start  with,"  he  said.  "  He  is  a  young 
fellow  who  carves  for  Ball  and  Guild  at  Whitting- 
ham.  I  attended  him  once  in  a  bad  illness.  Now 
he  is  getting  on  well,  though  he  is  not  a  genius. 
But  he  would  be  able  to  help  with  the  technical 
part  of  the  work  —  the  right  wood  to  use,  the 
proper  tools,  and  so  on.  If  Mr.  Ross  approves,  I 
will  write  to  this  man  —  Brock  is  his  name  —  and 
ask  him  to  come  over  to  talk  about  it.  The  only 
difficulty  is  that  I  fear  he  is  never  free  except  in 
the  evenings." 

"I  don't  think  that  would  matter,"  said  Miss 
Lilly,  —  "  not  in  summer  time.  Ferdy  does  not 
go  to  bed  till  half-past  eight  or  nine.  And  if  he 
gets  on  well  with  his  carving,  grandfather,  —  and 


110  THE   ORIEL  WINDOW 

I  do  believe  he  will;  you  know  I  have  always 
thought  there  was  something  uncommon  about 
Ferdy,  —  he  will  be  able  to  help  Jesse.  Who 
knows  what  may  come  of  it?  It  may  be  the  sav- 
ing of  Jesse." 

Her  pleasant  face  grew  quite  rosy  with  ex- 
citement. It  might  be  such  a  good  thing  in  so 
many  ways  —  something  to  take  the  little  invalid's 
thoughts  off  himself  and  to  convince  his  too 
anxious  mother  that  feeling  himself  able  to  be 
of  use  to  others  would  be  by  far  the  surest  way 
of  securing  Ferdy's  own  happiness  in  the  uncer- 
tain and  perhaps  very  trying  life  before  him. 
And  her  grandfather  quite  sympathised  in  all  she 
felt. 

So  that  evening  two  letters  were  sent  off  from 
the  pretty  cottage  at  Bollins,  one  to  Mr.  Linham, 
accepting  his  invitation  to  Cornwall,  and  one  to 
Mr.  Ross,  asking  him  to  stop  a  moment  on  his  drive 
past  the  old  doctor's  house  the  next  morning  to 
have  a  little  talk  about  Ferdy. 

"  He  is  sure  to  do  so,  and  sure  too  to  be  pleased 
with  anything  you  think  would  be  good  for  Ferdy," 
said  Eva  to  her  grandfather. 


AN   UNEXPECTED   PIG?S    HEAD  111 

And  this  was  quite  true,  for  though  Dr.  Lilly  no 
longer  looked  after  ill  people,  his  opinion  was  most 
highly  thought  of,  and  by  no  one  more  than  by  Mr. 
Ross,  who  had  known  him  as  long  as  he  could 
remember  knowing  any  one. 

After  Miss  Lilly  left  him  that  afternoon,  Ferdy, 
contrary  to  his  custom,  fell  asleep  and  had  a  good 
long  nap,  only  awaking  when  the  carriage  bringing 
his  mother  and  Chrissie  back  from  their  expedition 
drove  up  to  the  door. 

Mrs.  Ross's  anxious  face  grew  brighter  when  she 
saw  how  fresh  and  well  the  boy  was  looking.  She 
had  been  afraid  lest  the  increasing  heat  of  the 
weather  would  try  Ferdy's  strength  too  much,  espe- 
cially as  the  doctors  would  not  yet  allow  him  to  be 
carried  out  of  doors.  But  here  again  the  oriel  win- 
dow proved  of  the  greatest  use :  it  could  always  be 
open  at  one  side  or  the  other,  according  to  the  time 
of  day,  so  that  it  was  easy  to  catch  whatever  breeze 
was  going  for  Ferdy's  benefit,  and  yet  to  shade  him 
from  the  sun.  He  certainly  did  not  look  at  all 
fagged  or  exhausted  this  afternoon,  though  it  had 
been  rather  a  hot  day  for  June. 

Christine  followed  her  mother  into  the  room,  her 


112  THE   ORIEL    WINDOW 

arms    filled    with    parcels,    her    eyes    bright    with 
pleasure. 

"  We've  got  such  a  beautiful  slate  for  you,  Ferdy," 
she  said,  "  and  a  book  of  animal  pictures  —  outlines 

—  that  will  be  quite  easy  to  copy  on  a  slate,  and  the 
man  at  the  shop  said  it  was  a  very  good  thing  to 
study  them  for  any  one  who  wanted  to  try  wood- 
carving." 

"  Oh,  how  nice  ! "  said  Ferdy  eagerly.  "  Do  let 
me  see,  Chrissie !  And  what  are  those  other  parcels 
you've  got?" 

"  Two  are  from  the  German  confectioner's  at 
Freston  —  cakes  for  tea  —  that  nice  kind,  you  know 

—  the  fancy  curly  shape,  like  the  ones  in  the  4  Stru- 
welpeter '  pictures." 

Ferdy 's  face  expressed  /great  satisfaction. 

"  We  must  have  a  regular  good  tea,"  he  said ; 
"those  cakes  are  meant  to  be  eaten  while  they're 
quite  fresh.  And  what's  the  other  parcel, 
Chrissie?" 

"  Oh,  it's  two  little  ducky  cushions,"  his  sister 
replied,  "  quite  little  tiny  ones  of  eider-down.  They 
are  to  put  under  your  elbows  when  you're  sitting  up, 
or  at  the  back  of  your  neck,  or  into  any  little  odd 


AN    UNEXPECTED   PIG'S    HEAD  113 

corner  where  the  big  ones  don't  fit  in.  You  know 
you've  often  wished  for  a  little  cushion,  and  when 
you  go  out  into  the  garden  or  for  a  drive  you'll  need 
them  still  more,  mamma  says." 

All  the  time  she  had  been  talking,  Christine  had 
been  undoing  her  parcels,  Mrs.  Ross  helping  her  to 
lay  out  their  contents. 

"  Thank  you  so  very  much,  mamma,"  said  Ferdy, 
"  everything's  beautiful.  Which  way  did  you  drive 
to  Freston?" 

"  We  went  one  way  and  came  back  the  other," 
said  Mrs.  Ross,  — "  by  the  road  that  passes  near 
Draymoor,  you  know.  Dear  me,  even  on  a  fine 
summer's  day  that  place  looks  grim  and  wretched! 
And  there  seems  always  to  be  idle  boys  about,  even 
early  in  the  afternoon." 

"  Miss  Lilly  says  there's  often  a  lot  that  can't  get 
work  to  do,"  said  Ferdy.  "  It's  this  way  —  some- 
times they're  very,  very  busy,  and  sometimes  there's 
not  enough  to  do,  and  that's  how  they  get  into  mis- 
chief, I  suppose,"  he  added,  with  the  air  of  a  small 
Solomon. 

"  It  seems  a  pity  that  no  one  can  take  a  real 
interest  in  the  place,"  said  his  mother;  ubut  here 
i 


114  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

comes  tea,  Ferdy.  I  am  sure  we  shall  all  be  glad 
of  it.  Chrissie,  you  can  arrange  the  cakes  while  I 
pour  out  tea." 

They  seemed  a  happy  little  party  that  afternoon 

-  happier  than  Ferdy's  mother,  at  least,  would  have 

believed  it  possible  they  could  be,  had  she,  three 

months  or  so  before,  foreseen  the  sad  trouble  that 

was  to  befall  her  darling. 

"I  wonder  how  soon  I  shall  be  able  to  go  for  a 
drive,"  said  Ferdy.  "Will  you  ask  the  big  doctor 
the  next  time  he  comes,  mamma?  I  should  like 
to  see  Draymoor  again.  I've  never  forgotten  that 
day  I  went  there  with  papa.  And  now  I  under- 
stand about  it  so  much  better.  Miss  Lilly  says  it 
isn't  that  the  people  are  very  poor  —  they  earn  a 
lot  of  money  when  they  are  at  work,  but  then 
they  spend  it  all  instead  of  spreading  it  over  the 
times  they  haven't  work.  Isn't  it  a  pity  they  can't 
be  taught  something  else  to  do  for  the  idle  times, 
to  keep  them  from  quarrelling  with  each  other 
and  being  unkind  to  their  wives  and  children  ?  " 

Mrs.  Ross  looked  at  Ferdy  with  surprise  and 
some  misgiving.  It  was  doubtless  Miss'  Lilly  who 
had  talked  to  him  about  the  Draymoor  people. 


AN    UNEXPECTED   PIG'S   HEAD  115 

Was  it  quite  wise  of  her  to  do  so  ?  Ferdy  was  so 
sensitive  already,  and  his  illness  seemed  to  have 
made  him  even  more  "  old-fashioned."  To  hear  him 
talk  as  he  was  doing  just  now,  one  could  easily 
have  believed  him  twice  his  real  age.  But  a 
second  glance  at  his  face  made  her  feel  easy  again. 
He  was  speaking  in  a  tone  of  quiet  interest,  but 
not  in  any  nervous  or  excited  way. 

"  Yes,"  she  replied,  "  there  is  plenty  to  be  done  to 
improve  Draymoor,  and  at  present  no  one  seems 
to  take  any  special  charge  of  it.  If  your  father 
was  less  busy  and  richer,  I  know  he  would  like 
to  try  to  do  something  for  the  people  there." 

"Miss  Lilly  says  if  there  was  any  one  to  look 
after  the  boys  it  would  ba  such  a  good  thing," 
said  Ferdy.  "I  hope  Jesse  Piggot  won't  go  back 
there  to  live." 

Then  they  went  on  to  talk  of  other  things. 
Ferdy  greatly  approved  of  the  German  cakes,  and 
his  mother's  spirits  rose  higher  as  she  saw  him  eat- 
ing them  with  a  good  appetite  and  making  little 
jokes  with  his  sister. 

The  rest  of  the  evening  passed  happily.  Ferdy 
amused  himself  for  some  time  by  "trying"  his  new 


116  THE  ORIEL   WINDOW 

slate.  He  drew  two  or  three  animals  without  any 
model,  and  was  delighted  to  find  that  Chrissie 
recognised  them  all,  and  that  they  did  not  com- 
pare very  badly  with  the  outlines  she  had  brought 
him. 

"  I  am  tired  now,"  he  said  as  he  put  down  his 
pencil  with  a  little  sigh,  but  a  sigh  of  contentment  as 
much  as  of  weariness,  "  but  I  know  what  I'll  do  to- 
morrow, Chrissie.  I'll  study  one  animal's  head,  or 
perhaps  a  bird.  If  those  old  swallows  would  but 
settle  for  a  bit  on  the  window-sill,  or  even  on  one  of 
the  branches  close  by,  I'm  sure  I  could  do  them. 
What  a  pity  it  is  they  can't  understand  what  we 
want,  for  I  always  feel  as  if  they  knew  all  about 
us." 

"That's  because  of  my  dream,"  said  Christine 
importantly.  "But  I  must  go  now,  Ferdy  dear; 
Flowers  has  called  me  two  or  three  times  to  change 
my  frock." 

So  Ferdy  lay  on  his  couch,  one  end  of  which 
was  drawn  into  the  window,  watching  the  sweet 
summer  sunset  and  the  gentle  "  good-night "  steal- 
ing over  the  world.  There  were  not  many  passers- 
by  at  that  hour.  The  school  children  had  long 


WATCHING  THE  SWEET  SUMMER  SUNSET.  —  P.  116. 


AN    UNEXPECTED   PIG'S    HEAD  117 

ago  gone  home ;  the  little  toddlers  among  them 
must  already  be  in  bed  and  asleep.  Now  and  then 
a  late  labourer  came  slowly  along  with  lagging 
steps,  or  one  of  the  village  dogs,  in  search  of  a 
stray  cat  perhaps,  pricked  up  his  ears  when  Ferdy 
tapped  on  the  window-pane.  But  gradually  all 
grew  very  still,  even  the  birds  ceasing  to  twitter 
and  cheep  as  they  settled  themselves  for  the  night. 
And  Ferdy  himself  felt  ready  to  follow  the  general 
example,  when  suddenly  his  attention  was  caught 
by  a  figure  that  came  down  the  lane  from  the 
farm  and  stood  for  a  moment  or  two  at  the  end 
of  the  drive  where  the  gate  had  been  left  open. 

Ferdy  almost  jumped  as  he  saw  it. 

"  Flowers,"  he  exclaimed,  as  at  that  moment  the 
maid  came  into  the  room  followed  by  Thomas  to 
carry  him  up  to  bed.  "  Flowers  —  Thomas,  do 
look !  Isn't  that  Jesse  Piggot  standing  at  the 
gate  ?  He  must  have  come  back  again." 

"  I  don't  know,  I'm  sure,  Master  Ferdy,"  said 
Flowers,  who  did  '  not  feel  any  particular  interest 
in  Jesse  Piggot. 

But  Thomas  was  more  good-natured.  He  peered 
out  into  the  dusk. 


118  THE   ORIEL    WINDOW 

"  It  looks  like  him,  Master  Ferdy,"  he  said,  "  but 
I  don't  know  that  he'll  get  much  of  a  welcome 
even  if  he  has  come  back.  Such  a  lad  for  mis- 
chief never  was,"  for  Thomas  had  had  some  ex- 
perience of  Jesse  once  or  twice  when  the  boy  had 
been  called  into  the  Watch  House  for  an  odd  job, 

"  Never  mind  about  that,"  said  Ferdy,  "  I  shall 
be  glad  to  see  him  again.  Be  sure  you  find  out  in 
the  morning,  Thomas,  if  it  is  him." 


CHAPTER   VIII 

WELCOME   VISITORS 

BUT  Ferdy  did  not  need  to  wait  till  Thomas 
had  made  his  inquiries,  which  most  likely  would 
have  taken  some  time,  as  he  was  not  a  young 
man  who  cared  to  be  hurried. 

Miss  Lilly  in  her  quiet  way  was  quite  excited 
when  she  came  the  next  morning. 

"  Whom  do  you  think  I  met  yesterday  afternoon 
on  my  way  home,  Ferdy?"  she  said  as  soon  as 
she  and  Chrissie  came  into  the  oriel  room  for  the 
part  of  the  morning  they  now  regularly  passed 
there  with  the  little  invalid. 

"  I  can  guess,"  said  Ferdy  eagerly.  "  I  believe 
it  was  Jesse  Piggot,"  and  then  he  told  Miss  Lilly 
about  having  seen  a  boy's  figure  standing  at  the 
end  of  the  drive  looking  in. 

"Poor  fellow,"  said  Miss  Lilly,  "I  daresay  he 
was  watching  in  the  hopes  of  seeing  some  one 
who  could—  '  but  then  she  stopped  short. 

119 


120  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

Ferdy  looked  up  with  curiosity. 

" 4  Who  could  '  what,  Miss  Lilly?  "  he  asked. 

His  governess  smiled. 

"I  think  I  mustn't  tell  you,"  she  said.  "It 
might  disappoint  the  boy,  if  he  is  wanting  to  give 
you  a  little  surprise.  And  I  scarcely  think  he 
would  have  sent  in  a  message  by  any  one  but  me," 
she  went  on,  speaking  more  to  herself  than  to 
Ferdy,  "after  what  I  promised  him  last  night." 

"What  did  you  promise  him,  Miss  Lilly?"  the 
little  boy  asked.  His  curiosity  was  greatly  excited. 

"  Only  that  if  possible  I  would  get  leave  for 
him  to  come  in  and  see  you  for  a  few  minutes," 
the  young  lady  replied.  "I  must  ask  Mrs.  Ross." 

"  Oh,  I'm  sure  mamma  wouldn't  mind,"  said 
Ferdy.  "I  do  so  wonder  what  the  surprise  is." 

"You'd  better  not  think  about  it,"  said  Chrissie 
sagely.  "That's  what  I  do.  I  put  things  quite 
out  of  my  mind  if  I  know  I  can't  find  out  about 
them.  Don't  you,  Miss  Lilly?" 

Miss  Lilly  smiled. 

"  I  try  to,"  she  said,  "  but  I  own  I  find  it  very 
far  from  easy  sometimes.  I  think  the  best  way 
to  put  something  out  of  your  mind  is  to  put 


WELCOME   VISITORS  121 

something  else  in.  So  supposing  we  go  on  with 
our  lessons,  Ferdy." 

"  Oh,  but  first,"  said  Ferdy  eagerly,  "  first  I  must 
show  you  the  beautiful  things  mamma  and  Chris 
brought  me  yesterday.  See  here,  Miss  Lilly." 

And  Eva  examined  his  new  possessions  with 
great  interest,  even  greater  interest  than  Ferdy 
knew,  for  her  head  was  full  of  her  new  ideas 
about  Jesse,  and  the  talent  she  believed  he  had 
shown  in  his  carving.  She  turned  over  the  leaves 
of  the  little  book  of  animal  outlines  till  she  came 
to  one  of  a  pig,  and  she  sat  looking  at  it  in 
silence  for  so  long  that  Christine  peeped  over  her 
shoulder  to  see  what  it  could  be  that  had  so  taken 
her  fancy. 

"It's  a  pig,  Ferdy,"  she  called  out,  laughing. 
"Miss  Lilly,  I  didn't  know  you  were  so  fond  of 
pigs.  I'm  sure  there  are  much  prettier  animals  in 
the  book  than  pigs." 

"I  daresay  there  are,"  said  her  governess  good- 
naturedly.  "But  I  am  very  interested  in  pigs, 
especially  their  heads.  I  wish  you  would  draw 
me  one,  Ferdy,  after  lessons.  I  would  like  to  see 
how  you  can  do  it." 


122  THE  ORIEL   WINDOW 

Ferdy  was  quite  pleased  at  the  idea.  But  in 
the  meantime  Miss  Lilly  reminded  both  children 
that  they  must  give  their  attention  to  the  English 
history  which  was  that  morning's  principal  lesson. 

Jesse  Piggot  did  not  make  his  appearance.  It 
was  a  busy  day  at  the  farm,  and  for  once  there 
was  plenty  for  him  to  do.  He  had  finished  carv- 
ing the  stick,  and  if  he  had  dared  he  would  have 
run  off  with  it  to  the  Watch  House.  But  what 
he  had  gone  through  lately  had  been  of  use  to 
the  boy.  He  was  becoming  really  anxious  to  get 
a  good  regular  place  at  Farmer  Meare's,  for  he  had 
no  wish  to  go  off  again  on  "  odd  jobs "  under 
the  tender  mercies  of  his  rough  Draymoor  cousins. 

And,  on  the  whole,  Miss  Lilly  settled  in  her 
own  mind  that  she  was  not  sorry  he  had  not 
come  that  day,  for  she  hoped  that  Mr.  Ross  had 
seen  her  grandfather  that  morning  and  heard  from 
him  about  the  lessons  in  wood-carving  which  the 
old  doctor  thought  might  be  so  good  for  Ferdy; 
and  more  than  that,  she  hoped  that  perhaps  Mr. 
Ross's  interest  in  poor  Jesse  might  be  increased 
by  what  Dr.  Lilly  would  tell  about  him. 

It  all  turned   out  very  nicely,  as   you  will   hear. 


WELCOME   VISITORS  123 

Late  that  afternoon,  just  as  lessons  were  over 
and  Chrissie  had  got  her  mother's  leave  to  walk 
a  little  bit  of  her  way  home  with  Miss  Lilly, 
Thomas  appeared  in  the  oriel  room  with  a  message 
from  Mrs.  Ross. 

"Would  Miss  Lilly  stay  to  have  tea  with  Miss 
Christine  and  Master  Ferdy?  Mrs.  Ross  would 
come  up  presently,  but  there  was  a  gentleman  in 
the  drawing-room  with  her  just  now." 

"  What  a  bother!"  exclaimed  Chrissie.  "Now 
it  will  be  too  late  for  me  to  go  with  you,  Miss 
Lilly.  I  wish  horrid,  stupid  gentlemen  wouldn't 
come  to  call  and  interrupt  mamma  when  it's  her 
time  for  coming  up  to  see  Ferdy.  And  it's  not 
really  tea-time  yet." 

But  tea  appeared  all  the  same.  There  was 
plainly  some  reason  for  Miss  Lilly's  staying  later 
than  usual.  And  when  the  reason  was  explained 
in  the  shape  of  Dr.  Lilly,  who  put  his  kind  old 
face  in  at  the  door  half  an  hour  or  so  later,  no 
one  welcomed  him  more  heartily  than  Chrissie, 
though  she  got  very  red  when  Ferdy  mischiev- 
ously whispered  to  her  to  ask  if  she  counted  him 
"a  horrid,  stupid  gentleman." 


124  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

Dr.  Lilly  was  a  great  favourite  with  the  chil- 
dren. And  never  had  Ferdy  been  more  pleased 
to  see  him  than  to-day. 

"I  am  so  glad  you've  come,"  he  said,  stretching 
out  his  little  hand,  thinner  and  whiter  than  his 
old  friend  would  have  liked  to  see  it.  "  Miss 
Lilly  says  you  know  a  lot  about  wood-carving, 
and  I  do  so  want  to  learn  to  do  it." 

Dr.  Lilly  smiled. 

"I  am  afraid  my  granddaughter  has  made  you 
think  me  much  cleverer  than  I  am,  my  dear  boy," 
he  replied.  "I  can't  say  I  know  much  about  it 
myself,  but  I  have  a  young  friend  who  does,  and 
if  you  really  want  to  learn,  I  daresay  he  might 
be  of  use  to  you." 

Ferdy's  eyes  sparkled,  and  so  did  Miss  Lilly's, 
for  she  knew  her  grandfather  too  well  to  think 
that  he  would  have  spoken  in  this  way  to  Ferdy 
unless  he  had  good  reason  for  it. 

"Grandfather  must  have  seen  Mr.  Ross  and  got 
his  consent  for  the  lessons,"  she  thought. 

And  she  looked  as  pleased  as  Ferdy  himself, 
who  was  chattering  away  like  a  little  magpie  to 
Dr.  Lilly  about  all  the  lovely  things  he  would 


WELCOME  VISITORS  125 

make  if  he  really  learnt  to  carve  —  or  "cut  out," 
as  he  kept  calling  it  —  very  nicely. 

"What  I'd  like  best  of  all  to  do  is  swallows," 
he  said.  "  You  see  I've  got  to  know  the  swallows 
over  this  window  so  well.  I  do  believe  I  know 
each  one  of  them  sep'rately.  And  sometimes  in 
the  morning  early  —  I  can  hear  them  out  of  my 
bedroom  window  too  —  I  really  can  almost  tell 
what  they're  talking  about." 

"Swallows  are  charming,"  said  Dr.  Lilly,  "but 
to  see  them  at  their  best  they  should  be  on  the 
wing.  They  are  rather  awkward-looking  birds 
when  not  flying." 

"They've  got  very  nice  faces,"  said  Ferdy,  who 
did  not  like  to  allow  that  his  friends  were  short 
of  beauty  in  any  way.  "  Their  foreheads  and 
necks  are  such  a  pretty  browny  colour,  and  then 
their  top  feathers  are  a  soft  sort  of  blue,  greyey 
blue,  which  looks  so  nice  over  the  white  under- 
neath. I  think  they're  awfully  pretty  altogether." 

"You  have  watched  them  pretty  closely,  I  see," 
said  Dr.  Lilly,  pleased  at  Ferdy's  careful  noticing 
of  his  feathered  neighbours.  "I  love  swallows  as 
much  as  you  do,  but  it  takes  a  master  hand  to 


126  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

carve  movement.  You  may  begin  with  something 
easier,  and  who  knows  what  you  may  come  to  do 
in  time." 

Ferdy  did  not  answer.  He  lay  still,  his  blue 
eyes  gazing  up  into  the  sky,  from  which  at  that 
moment  they  almost  seemed  to  have  borrowed 
their  colour.  Visions  passed  before  his  fancy  of 
lovely  things  which  he  would  have  found  it  diffi- 
cult to  describe,  carvings  such  as  none  but  a  fairy 
hand  could  fashion,  of  birds  and  flowers  of  beauty 
only  to  be  seen  in  dreams  —  it  was  a  delight  just 
to  think  of  them.  And  one  stood  out  from  the 
rest,  a  window  like  his  own  oriel  window,  but 
entwined  with  wonderful  foliage,  and  in  one  cor- 
ner a  nest,  with  a  bird  still  almost  on  the  wing, 
poised  on  a  branch  hard  by. 

"  Oh,"  and  he  all  but  spoke  his  fancy  aloud,  "  I 
feel  as  if  I  could  make  it  so  lovely." 

But  just  then,  glancing  downwards,  though  still 
out  of  doors,  he  gave  a  little  start. 

"It  is  him,"  he  exclaimed.  "Miss  Lilly,  dear, 
do  look.  Isn't  that  Jesse,  standing  at  the 
gate?" 

Yes,   Jesse    it    was.      Not   peeping  in   shyly,   as 


WELCOME   VISITORS  127 

some  boys  would  have  done.  That  was  not  Mr. 
Jesse's  way.  No,  there  he  stood,  in  the  middle  of 
the  open  gateway,  quite  at  his  ease,  one  hand  in 
his  pocket,  in  the  fellow  of  which  the  other  would 
have  been,  no  doubt,  if  it  had  not  been  holding  an 
inconvenient  shape  of  parcel  —  a  long  narrow  par- 
cel done  up  in  a  bit  of  newspaper,  which  had  seen 
better  days;  not  the  sort  of  parcel  you  could  pos- 
sibly hide  in  a  pocket.  It  was  tea-time  at  the 
farm,  and  Jesse  had  slipped  down  to  the  Watch 
House  in  hopes  of  catching  sight  of  Miss  Lilly, 
for  she  had  spoken  of  the  afternoon  as  the  best 
time  for  seeing  Ferdy. 

"  Of  course  it  is  Jesse,"  said  the  young  lady. 
"Look,  grandfather,  don't  you  think  I  may  run 
down  and  ask  Mrs.  Ross  to  let  me  bring  him  in 
for  a  few  minutes  ?  " 

And  off  she  went. 

A  minute  or  two  later  Ferdy  and  Chrissie,  still 
looking  out  of  the  window  in  great  anxiety  lest 
Jesse  should  get  tired  of  waiting  and  go  away 
before  Miss  Lilly  could  stop  him,  saw  their  gov- 
erness hurry  up  the  drive.  And  Jesse,  as  he 
caught  sight  of  her,  came  forward,  a  little  shy  and 


128  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

bashful  now,  as  he  tugged  at  his  cap  by  way  of 
a  polite  greeting. 

Ferdy's  face  grew  rosy  with  pleasure. 

"  They're  coming  in,"  he  said  to  Dr.  Lilly. 

"Yes,"  said  the  old  gentleman.  "I  will  go 
over  to  the  other  side  of  the  room  with  the  news- 
paper, so  that  the  poor  lad  won't  feel  confused  by 
seeing  so  many  people." 

But  all  the  same  from  behind  the  shelter  of  his 
newspaper  the  old  gentleman  kept  a  look-out  on 
the  little  scene  passing  before  him. 

Miss  Lilly  came  in  quickly,  but  Jesse  hung  back 
for  a  moment  or  two  at  the  door.  He  was  almost 
dazzled  at  first  by  the  bright  prettiness  before 
him.  For  he  had  never  seen  such  a  charming 
room  before,  and  though  he  would  not  have  un- 
derstood it  if  it  had  been  said  to  him,  underneath 
his  rough  outside  Jesse  had  one  of  those  natures 
that  are  much  and  quickly  alive  to  beauty  of  all 
kinds.  And  everything  that  love  and  good  taste 
could  do  to  make  the  oriel  room  a  pleasant  prison 
for  the  little  invalid  boy,  had  been  done. 

It  was  a  very  prettily  shaped  room  to  begin 
with,  and  the  creeping  plants  trained  round  the 


WELCOME    VISITORS  129 

window  outside  were  now  almost  in  their  full 
summer  richness.  Roses  peeped  in  with  their  soft 
blushing  faces ;  honeysuckle  seemed  climbing  up 
by  the  help  of  its  pink  and  scarlet  fingers;  clema- 
tis, the  dear  old  "  traveller's  joy,"  was  there  too, 
though  kept  in  proper  restraint.  The  oriel  win- 
dow looked  a  perfect  bower,  for  inside,  on 
the  little  table  by  Ferdy's  couch,  were  flowers 
too  —  one  of  his  own  moss-baskets,  filled  with 
wild  hyacinth,  and  a  beautiful  large  petalled  be- 
gonia, one  of  old  Ferguson's  special  pets,  which 
he  had  been  proud  to  send  in  to  adorn  Master 
Ferdy's  room,  and  two  lovely  fairy-like  maiden- 
hair ferns. 

And  the  little  group  in  the  window  seemed  in 
keeping  with  the  flowers  and  plants.  There  was 
the  delicate  face  of  the  little  invalid,  and  pretty 
Christine  with  her  fluffy  golden  hair,  and  Miss 
Lilly,  slight  and  dark-eyed,  stooping  over  them,  as 
she  explained  to  Ferdy  that  Jesse  was  longing  to 
see  him. 

Altogether  the  poor  boy,  rude  and  rough  as  he 
was,  felt  as  if  he  were  gazing  at  some  beautiful 
picture ;  he  would  have  liked  to  stand  there  longer 


130  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

—  the  feelings  that  came  over  him  were  so  new 
and  so  fascinating.  He  did  not  see  old  Dr.  Lilly 
behind  his  newspaper  in  the  farther  corner  of  the 
room  —  he  felt  as  if  in  a  dream,  and  he  quite 
started  when  Miss  Lilly,  glancing  round,  spoke  to 
him  by  name. 

"  Come  in,  Jesse,"  she  said,  "  I  do  want  Master 
Ferdy  to  see  —  you  know  what." 

Jesse  was  clutching  the  little  walking-stick 
tightly.  He  had  almost  forgotten  about  it.  But 
he  moved  it  from  his  right  arm  to  his  left,  as 
he  caught  sight  of  the  small  white  hand  stretched 
out  to  clasp  his  own  big  brown  one  —  though,  after 
all,  as  hands  go,  the  boy's  were  neither  thick  nor 
clumsy. 

"I'm  so  glad  you've  come  back,  Jesse,"  said 
Ferdy  in  his  clear,  rather  weak  tones.  "  You  didn't 
care  for  being  away,  did  you?  At  least,  not 
much?" 

"  No,  Master  Ferdy,  'twas  terrible  rough,"  said 
the  boy.  "I'm  glad  to  be  back  again,  though 
I'd  be  still  gladder  if  Mr.  Meare'd  take  me  on 
reg'lar  like." 

"I  hope  he   will  soon,"  said  Ferdy.     "I  daresay 


WELCOME   VISITORS  131 

papa  wouldn't  mind  saying  something  to  him  about 
it,  if  it  would  be  any  good.  I'll  ask  him.  But 
what's  that  you've  got  wrapped  up  so  tight, 
Jesse?" 

Jesse  reddened. 

"  Then  the  young  lady  didn't  tell  you  ?  "  he  said, 
half  turning  to  Miss  Lilly. 

"Of  course  not,"  she  replied.  "Don't  you  re- 
member, Jesse,  I  said  you  should  give  it  to  Master 
Ferdy  yourself?" 

Jesse  fumbled  away  at  the  strips  of  newspaper 
he  had  wound  round  his  stick,  till  Ferdy 's  eyes, 
watching  with  keen  interest,  caught  sight  of  the 
ears  and  the  eyes  and  then  the  snout  of  the 
grotesque  but  unmistakable  pig's  head — "old  Jerry 
—  the  biggest  porker  at  the  farm." 

"  Oh,  Jesse,"  cried  Ferdy,  his  face  radiant  with 
delight,  "  how  lovely ! "  and  though  the  word  was 
not  quite  exactly  what  one  would  have  chosen,  it 
sounded  quite  perfect  to  Jesse  —  it  showed  him 
that  Master  Ferdy  "were  right  down  pleased." 

"Tis  only  a  bit  o'  nonsense,"  he  murmured  as 
he  stuffed  the  stick  into  the  little  invalid's  hands. 
"I  thought  it'd  make  you  laugh,  Master  Ferdy.  I 


132  THE  ORIEL   WINDOW 

took  it  off  old  Jerry  —  you  know  old  Jerry  —  the 
fat  old  fellow  as  grunts  so  loud  for  his  dinner." 

"Of  course  I  remember  him,"  said  Ferdy.  ''Don't 
you,  Christine?  We've  often  laughed  at  him  when 
we've  run  in  to  look  at  the  pigs.  Isn't  it  capital? 
Do  you  really  mean  that  you  cut  it  out  yourself, 
Jesse?  Why,  I'd  never  be  able  to  cut  out  like 
that!  He  really  looks  as  if  he  was  just  going  to 
open  his  mouth  to  gobble  up  his  dinner,  doesn't  he, 
Miss  Lilly?" 

"He's  very  good  —  very  good  indeed,"  she  re- 
plied. And  then  raising  her  voice  a  little,  "Grand- 
father," she  said,  "  would  you  mind  coming  over 
here  to  look  at  Jesse's  carving?" 

Dr.  Lilly  crossed  the  room  willingly.  Truth  to 
tell,  the  newspaper  had  not  been  getting  very  much 
of  his  attention  during  the  last  few  minutes. 

In  his  own  mind  he  had  been  prepared  for  some 
little  kindly  exaggeration  on  Eva's  part  of  Jesse's 
skill,  so  that  he  was  really  surprised  when  he  took 
the  stick  in  his  own  hands  and  examined  it  criti- 
cally, to  see  the  undoubted  talent  —  to  say  the 
least  —  the  work  showed. 

Rough  and  unfinished   and   entirely  "  untaught " 


WELCOME   VISITORS  183 

work  of  course  it  was.  But  that  is  exactly  the 
sort  of  thing  to  judge  by.  It  was  the  spirit  of 
it  that  was  so  good,  though  I  daresay  you  will 
think  that  a  curious  word  to  apply  to  the  rude 
carving  of  so  very  "  unspiritual "  a  subject  as  an  old 
pig's  head,  by  a  peasant  boy !  All  the  same  I  think 
I  am  right  in  using  the  expression. 

"  Life-like  and  certainly  original,"  murmured  Dr. 
Lilly.  "  Grotesque,  of  course  —  that  is  all  right, 
that  is  always  how  they  begin.  But  we  must  be 
careful  —  very  careful,"  he  went  on  to  himself  in 
a  still  lower  tone  of  voice. 

And  aloud  he  only  said,  as  he  looked  up  with  a 
smile,  "Very  good,  my  boy,  very  good.  You  could 
not  have  a  better  amusement  for  your  idle  hours 
than  trying  to  copy  what  you  see  in  the  world 
about  you.  It  is  the  seeing  that  matters.  You 
must  have  watched  this  old  fellow  pretty  closely  to 
understand  his  look,  have  you  not?" 

Jesse,  half  pleased,  half  shy,  answered  rather 
gruffly.  "He  do  be  a  queer  chap,  to  be  sure. 
Master  Ferdy,  and  Missie  too,  has  often  laughed 
at  him  when  they've  been  up  at  the  farm.  And 
that's  how  I  come  to  think  of  doing  him  on  a 


134  THE  ORIEL  WINDOW 

stick.  And  many  a  time,"  he  went  on,  as  if  half 
ashamed  of  the  childishness  of  the  occupation, 
"there's  naught  else  I  can  do  to  make  the  time 
pass,  so  to  say." 

"  You  could  not  have  done  better,"  said  the  old 
doctor  kindly.  "  Don't  think  it  is  waste  of  time 
to  try  your  hand  at  this  sort  of  thing  after  your 
other  work  is  done.  I  hope  you  may  learn  to 
carve  much  better.  A  little  teaching  would  help 
you  on  a  good  deal,  and  proper  tools  and  know- 
ledge of  the  different  kinds  of  wood." 

Jesse's  face  expressed  great  interest,  but  then  it 
clouded  over  a  little. 

"Yes,  sir,"  he  agreed,  "but  I  dunnot  see  how  I 
could  get  the  teaching.  There's  nothing  like  that 
about  here  —  not  like  in  big  towns,  where  they  say 
there's  teaching  for  nothing,  or  next  to  nothing  — 
evenings  at  the  Institutes." 

"Ah  well,  help  comes  to  those  who  help  them- 
selves. Master  Ferdy  may  be  able  to  give  you 
some  hints  if  he  learns  carving  himself.  And  he 
can  tell  you  some  stories  of  the  poor  country  boys 
in  Switzerland  and  some  parts  of  Germany  —  how 
they  work  away  all  by  themselves  till  they  learn 


WELCOME  VISITORS  135 

to  make  all  sorts  of  beautiful  things.  Have  you 
any  other  bits  of  carving  by  you  that  you  could 
show  me  ?  " 

Again  Jesse's  brown  face  lighted  up,  and  Ferdy 
listened  eagerly. 

"Oh  lor,  yes,  sir,  all  manner  of  nonsense  — 
whistles,  sir,  though  there's  some  sense  in  whistles, 
to  be  sure,"  with  a  twinkle  of  fun. 

"  Then  bring  me  a  pocketful  of  nonsense  this 
evening — no,  to-morrow  evening  will  be  better  — 
to  my  house  at  Bollins.  You  know  it,  of  course? 
And  we'll  have  a  look  over  them  together.  Per- 
haps I  may  have  a  friend  with  me,  who  knows 
more  about  carving  than  I  do." 

"And  after  Dr.  Lilly  has  seen  them,  please 
bring  some  of  them  for  me  to  see  too,  Jesse,"  said 
Ferdy.  "  When  can  he  come  again,  do  you  think, 
Miss  Lilly?" 

Miss    Lilly  considered. 

"  On  Friday  afternoon.  Can  you  get  off  for 
half  an  hour  on  Friday  about  this  time,  Jessie?" 

"  Oh  yes,  miss,  no  fear  but  I  can,"  the  boy 
replied. 

"And  thank  you  ever  so  many  times  —  a  great, 


136  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

great  many  times,  for  old  Jerry,"  said  Ferdy  as  he 
stretched  out  his  little  hand  in  farewell. 

Jessie  beamed  with  pleasure. 

"I'll  see  if  I  can't  do  something  better  for  you, 
Master  Ferdy,"  he  said. 

And  to  himself  he  added,  "It's  a  deal  sensibler, 
after  all,  than  knocking  up  after  mischief  all  the 
evening  —  a-shamming  to  smoke  and  a-settin'  trees 
on  fire."  For  this  had  been  one  of  his  worst 
misdeeds  in  the  village  not  many  months  before, 
when  he  and  some  other  boys  had  hidden  their 
so-called  "  cigars "  of  rolled-up  leaves,  still  smoul- 
dering, in  the  hollow  of  an  old  oak,  and  frightened 
everybody  out  of  their  wits  in  the  night  by  the 
conflagration  which  ended  the  days  of  the  poor 
tree  and  threatened  to  spread  farther. 

Still  more  pleased  would  he  have  been  could  he 
have  overheard  Ferdy's  words  after  he  had  gone. 

"Isn't  it  really  capital,  Dr.  Lilly?  I  don't  be- 
lieve I  could  ever  do  anything  so  like  real  as  this 
old  Jerry." 


CHAPTER  IX 

"  MY   PUPILS  " 

THAT  summer  was  a  very,  very  lovely  one.  It 
scarcely  rained,  and  when  it  did,  it  was  generally 
in  the  night.  If  it  is  "an  ill  wind  that  brings 
nobody  any  good,"  on  the  other  hand  I  suppose 
that  few  winds  are  so  good  that  they  bring  nobody 
any  harm,  so  possibly  in  some  parts  of  the  country 
people  may  have  suffered  that  year  for  want  of 
water;  but  this  was  not  the  case  at  Evercombe, 
where  there  were  plenty  of  most  well-behaved 
springs,  which  —  or  some  of  which  at  least  —  had 
never  been  known  to  run  dry. 

So  the  little  brooks  danced  along  their  way  as 
happily  as  ever,  enjoying  the  sunshine,  and  with 
no  murmurs  from  the  little  fishes  to  sadden  their 
pretty  songs,  no  fears  for  themselves  of  their 
full  bright  life  running  short.  Every  living  thing 
seemed  bubbling  over  with  content ;  the  flowers 
and  blossoms  were  as  fresh  in  July  as  in  May ; 

137 


138  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

never  had  the  birds  been  quite  so  busy  and  merry; 
and  as  for  the  butterflies,  there  was  no  counting 
their  number  or  variety.  Some  new  kinds  must 
have  come  this  year  from  butterflyland,  Ferdy  said 
to  Christine  one  afternoon  when  he  was  lying  out 
on  his  new  couch  on  the  lawn.  Christine  laughed, 
and  so  did  Miss  Lilly,  and  asked  him  to  tell  them 
where  that  country  was,  and  Ferdy  looked  very 
wise  and  said  it  lay  on  the  edge  of  fairyland,  the 
fairies  looked  after  it,  that  much  he  did  know,  and 
some  day  perhaps  he  would  find  out  more. 

And  then  he  went  on  to  tell  them,  in  his  half- 
joking,  half-serious  way,  that  he  really  thought 
the  swallows  were  considering  whether  it  was  worth 
while  to  go  away  over  the  sea  again  next  autumn. 
He  had  heard  them  having  such  a  talk  early  that 
morning,  and  as  far  as  he  could  make  out,  that 
was  what  they  were  saying. 

"The  spring  came  so  early  this  year,  and  the 
summer  looks  as  if  it  were  going  to  last  for  always," 
he  said.  "I  don't  wonder  at  the  swallows.  Do 
you,  Miss  Lilly?" 

Eva  smiled,  but  shook  her  head. 

"It  is  very  nice  of  them  to  be  considering  about 


"MY  PUPILS"  139 

it,"  she  replied,  "for,  no  doubt,  they  will  be  sorry 
to  leave  you  and  the  oriel  window,  Ferdy  —  sorrier 
than  ever  before."  For  she  understood  the  little 
boy  so  well,  that  she  knew  it  did  him  no  harm  to 
join  him  in  his  harmless  fancies  sometimes.  "But 
they  are  wiser  than  we  are  in  certain  ways.  They 
can  feel  the  first  faint  whiff  of  Jack  Frost's 
breath  long  before  we  have  begun  to  think  of 
cold  at  all." 

"Like  the  Fairy  Fine-Ear,"  said  Ferdy,  "who 
could  hear  the  grass  growing.  I  always  like  to 
think  of  that  —  there's  something  so  —  so  neat 
about  it." 

"What  a  funny  word  to  use  about  a  fairy  thing," 
said  Christine,  laughing.  "Ah,  well,  any  way  we 
needn't  think  about  Jack  Frost  or  cold  or  winter 
just  yet,  and  a  day  like  this  makes  one  feel,  as 
Ferdy  says,  as  if  the  summer  must  last  for 
always." 

It  had  been  a  great,  an  unspeakable  comfort  to 
the  family  at  the  Watch  House,  all  thinking  so 
constantly  about  their  dear  little  man,  to  have 
this  lovely  weather  for  him.  It  had  made  it  pos- 
sible for  him  to  enjoy  much  that  would  otherwise 


140  THE   ORIEL  WINDOW 

have  been  out  of  the  question  —  above  all,  the 
being  several  hours  of  the  day  out  of  doors. 

The  big  doctor  had  come  again,  not  long  after 
the  day  I  told  you  of  —  the  day  of  Miss  Lilly's 
grandfather's  visit,  and  of  the  presentation  of  the 
"old  Jerry  stick,"  as  it  came  to  be  called.  And 
he  gave  leave  at  last  for  Ferdy  to  be  carried  out 
of  doors  and  to  spend  some  hours  on  the  lawn, 
provided  they  waited  till  a  special  kind  of  couch, 
or  "garden-bed"  in  Ferdy's  words,  was  ordered 
and  sent  from  London.  It  was  a  very  clever  sort 
of  couch,  as  it  could  be  lifted  off  its  stand,  so  to 
say,  and  used  for  carrying  the  little  fellow  up  and 
down  stairs  without  the  slightest  jar  or  jerk. 

And  Ferdy  did  not  feel  as  if  he  were  deserting 
his  dear  oriel  window,  for  the  nicest  spot  in  the 
whole  garden  for  the  daily  camping-out  was  on 
the  lawn  just  below  the  swallows'  home.  And 
watching  their  quaint  doings,  their  flyings  out 
and  in,  their  "conversations,"  and  now  and  then 
even  a  tiny-bird  quarrel  among  the  youngsters, 
came  to  be  a  favourite  amusement  at  the  times, 
which  must  come  in  every  such  life  as  Ferdy 
had  to  lead,  when  he  felt  too  tired  to  read  or  to 


"MY  PUPILS"  141 

be  read  to,  too  tired  for  his  dearly  loved  "cutting- 
out"  even,  clever  as  he  was  getting  to  be  at  it. 

Miss  Lilly's  hopes  were  fulfilled.  Ferdy  was 
having  real  lessons  in  carving  two  or  three  times 
a  week.  Dr.  Lilly  had  arranged  all  about  it,  with 
the  young  man  he  had  thought  of,  before  he  went 
away.  His  going  away  had  turned  into  a  much 
longer  absence  than  was  at  first  expected,  but  out 
of  this  came  one  very  pleasant  thing  —  Miss  Lilly 
was  living  altogether  at  the  Watch  House. 

This  was  a  most  happy  plan  for  Ferdy,  and  for 
everybody,  especially  so  far  as  the  carving  lessons 
were  concerned,  for  Mr.  Brock  could  only  come 
in  the  evening,  and  but  for  Miss  Lilly's  presence 
there  might  have  been  difficulties  in  the  way, 
Mrs.  Ross  was  so  terribly  afraid  of  overtiring 
Ferdy,  and  nervous  about  his  straining  himself  or 
doing  too  much  in  any  way. 

But  she  knew  she  could  trust  Eva,  who  really 
seemed  to  have,  as  her  grandfather  said,  "an  old 
head  on  young  shoulders."  She  was  the  first  to 
see  if  Ferdy  was  getting  too  eager  over  his  work, 
or  tiring  himself,  and  then  too,  though  she  had 
not  actual  artist  talent  herself,  she  had  a  very 


142  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

quick  and  correct  eye.  She  understood  Mr. 
Brock's  directions  sometimes  even  better  than 
Ferdy  himself,  and  was  often  able  to  help  him 
out  of  a  difficulty  or  give  him  a  hint  to  set  him 
in  a  right  way  when  he  was  working  by  himself 
in  the  day- time.. 

And  another  person  was  much  the  gainer  by 
Miss  Lilly's  stay  at  the  Watch  House.  I  feel 
sure,  dear  children,  you  will  quickly  guess  who 
that  was. 

Jesse  Piggot? 

Yes,  poor  Jesse. 

But  for  Eva  I  doubt  if  he  would  have  been 
allowed  to  share  Ferdy 's  lessons.  Mrs.  Ross  had 
grown  nervous  since  that  sad  birthday  morning, 
though  at  the  time  she  seemed  so  calm  and  strong. 

But  she  was  now  too  anxious,  and  I  am  afraid 
Flowers  was  a  little  to  blame  for  her  mistress's 
fears  that  Jesse  would  in  some  way  or  other 
harm  little  Ferdy.  Flowers  did  not  like  Jesse. 
Indeed,  a  good  many  people  besides  the  Watch 
House  servants  had  no  love  for  the  boy.  It  was 
partly  Jesse's  own  fault,  partly  a.  case  of  giving  a 
dog  a  bad  name. 


143 

"He  came  of  such  a  rough  lot,"  they  would 
say.  "  Those  Draymoor  folk  were  all  a  bad  lot, 
and  Piggot's  set  about  the  worst.  Jesse  was  idle, 
and  i  mischeevious,'  and  impudent,"  and  besides 
all  these  opinions  of  him,  which  Flowers  repeated 
to  Ferdy's  mother,  there  was  always  "some  illness 
about  at  Draymoor  —  at  least  there  was  bound  to 
be  —  scarlet  fever  or  measles  or  something,  in  a 
place  where  there  were  such  swarms  of  rough,  ill- 
kept  children." 

This  was  really  not  the  case,  for  Draymoor  was 
an  extraordinarily  healthy  place,  and  when  Mrs. 
Ross  spoke  to  Dr.  Lilly  before  he  left  of  her 
fears  of  infection  being  brought  to  her  boy,  he 
was  able  to  set  her  mind  more  at  rest  on  this 
point,  and  Eva  took  care  to  remind  her  from  time  to 
time  of  what  "grandfather  had  said."  Arid  Jesse's 
luck  seemed  to  have  turned.  To  begin  with,  he 
was  now  regularly  employed  at  the  farm,  and  a 
week  or  two  after  Mrs.  Ross  had  consented  to 
his  sharing  Ferdy's  lessons,  the  Draymoor  diffi- 
culty came  to  an  end,  for  Farmer  Meare  gave 
him  a  little  room  over  the  cow-houses,  and  told 
him  he  might  spend  his  Sundays  there  too  if  he 


144  THE   ORIEL  WINDOW 

liked,  so  that  there  was  really  no  need  for  him  to 
go  backwards  and  forwards  to  the  neighbourhood 
Ferdy's  mother  dreaded  so,  at  all. 

He  was  not  overworked,  for  he  was  a  very 
strong  boy,  but  he  had  plenty  to  do,  and  there 
might  have  been  some  excuse  for  him  if  he  had 
said  he  felt  too  tired  "  of  an  evening "  to  do  any- 
thing but  loiter  about  or  go  to  bed  before  the  sun 
did. 

No  fear  of  anything  of  the  kind,  however. 
Jesse  was  a  good  example  of  the  saying  that  it  is 
the  busiest  people  who  have  the  most  time.  The 
busier  he  was  in  the  day,  the  more  eager  he 
seemed  that  nothing  should  keep  him  from  making 
his  appearance  at  the  door  of  the  oriel  room  a 
few  minutes  before  the  time  at  which  the  wood- 
carver  from  Whittingham  was  due. 

And  he  was  sure  to  be  heartily  welcomed  by 
Ferdy  and  his  governess,  and  Christine  too,  if 
she  happened  to  be  there. 

The  first  time  or  two  Miss  Lilly  had  found  it 
necessary  to  give  him  a  little  hint. 

"  Have  you  washed  your  hands,  Jesse  ? "  she 
said,  and  as  Jesse  looked  at  his  long  brown  fingers 


"MY  PUPILS"  145 

rather  doubtfully,  she  opened  the  door  again  and 
called  to  good-natured  Thomas,  who  had  just 
brought  the  boy  upstairs.  "  Jesse  must  wash  his 
hands,  please,"  she  said. 

And  from  that  evening  the  brown  hands  were 
always  quite  clean.  Then  another  hint  or  two 
got  his  curly  black  hair  cropped  and  his  boots 
brushed,  so  that  it  was  quite  a  tidy-looking  Jesse 
who  sat  at  the  table  on  Mr.  Brock's  other  side, 
listening  with  all  his  ears  and  watching  with  all 
his  eyes. 

And  he  learnt  with  wonderful  quickness.  The 
teacher  had  been  interested  in  him  from  the  first. 
Old  Jerry's  head  had  shown  him  almost  at  once 
that  the  boy  had  unusual  talent,  and  the  next 
few  weeks  made  him  more  and  more  sure  of  this. 

"We  must  not  let  it  drop,"  he  said  to  Eva 
one  day  when  he  was  able  to  speak  to  her  out 
of  hearing  of  the  boys.  "  When  Dr.  Lilly  returns 
I  must  tell  him  about  Jesse.  He  must  not  go 
on  working  as  a  farm-labourer  much  longer.  His 
touch  is  improving  every  day,  and  he  will  soon 
be  able  to  group  things  better  than  I  can  do 
myself  —  much  better  than  I  could  do  at  his 


146  THE   ORIEL    WINDOW 

age,"  with  a  little  sigh,  for  poor  Mr.  Brock  was 
not  at  all  conceited.  He  was  clever  enough  to 
know  pretty  exactly  what  he  could  do  and  what 
he  could  not,  and  he  felt  that  he  could  never 
rise  very  much  higher  in  his  art. 

Miss  Lilly  listened  with  great  pleasure  to  his 
opinion  of  Jesse,  but,  of  course,  she  said  any 
change  in  the  boy's  life  was  a  serious  matter, 
and  must  wait  to  be  talked  over  by  her  grand- 
father and  Mr.  Ross  when  Dr.  Lilly  came  home. 

And  in  her  own  heart  she  did  not  feel  sure 
that  they  would  wish  him  to  give  up  his  regular 
work,  not  at  any  rate  for  a  good  while  to  come, 
and  till  it  was  more  certain  that  he  could  make 
his  livelihood  in  a  different  way ;  for  what  Dr. 
Lilly  cared  most  about  was  to  give  pleasant  and 
interesting  employment  for  leisure  hours  —  to  bring 
some  idea  of  beauty  and  gracefulness  into  dull 
home  lives. 

She  said  something  of  this  kind  one  evening 
after  Jesse  had  gone,  and  she  saw  by  the  bright 
look  in  Ferdy's  face  that  he  understood  what 
she  meant,  better  even  than  Mr.  Brock  himself 
did  perhaps. 


"MY  PUPILS"  147 

"It  sounds  all  very  nice,  miss,"  said  the  wood- 
carver,  "but  I  doubt  if  there's  any  good  to  be  done 
in  that  sort  of  way  unless  when  there's  real  talent 
such  as  I  feel  sure  this  Piggot  lad  has.  The  run 
of  those  rough  folk  have  no  idea  beyond  loafing 
about  in  their  idle  hours;  and,  after  all,  if  they're 
pretty  sober  —  and  some  few  are  that  —  what  can 
one  expect?  The  taste  isn't  in  them,  and  if  it's 
not  there,  you  can't  put  it." 

Eva  hesitated. 

"  Are  you  so  sure  of  that  ?  "  she  said  doubtfully. 

"Well,  miss,  it  looks  like  it.  With  Jesse  now, 
there  was  no  encouragement  —  it  came  out  because 
it  was  there." 

"  Yes,  but  I  think  Jesse  is  an  exception.  He 
lias  unusual  talent,  and  in  a  case  like  his  I  daresay 
it  will  come  to  his  choosing  a  line  of  his  own 
altogether.  But  even  for  those  who  have  no 
talent,  and  to  begin  with,  even  no  taste,  I  do 
think  something  might  be  done,"  she  said. 

"  Thomas  has  taken  to  making  whistles,"  said 
Ferdy,  "  ever  since  he  saw  Jesse's.  He  can't  carve 
a  bit  —  not  prettily,  I  mean  —  but  he  cuts  out 
letters  rather  nicely,  and  he's  been  giving  every- 


148  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

body  presents  of  whistles  with  their  — 4  relitions ' 
on." 

"Initials  you  mean,  dear,"  said  Miss  Lilly. 

"Initials,"  repeated  Ferdy,  getting  rather  pink. 

"  Ah,"  said  the  wood-carver  with  a  smile,  "  you 
can't  quite  take  Thomas  as  an  example,  my  boy. 
Why,  compared  to  many  of  the  even  well-to-do 
people  about,  his  whole  life  is  'a  thing  of  beauty.' 
Look  at  the  rooms  he  lives  in,  the  gardens,  the 
ladies  he  sees.  And  as  for  those  Draymoor  folk, 
they'd  rather  have  the  bar  of  an  inn  than  the 
finest  picture  gallery  in  the  world.  No,  miss,  with 
all  respect,  you  'can't  make  a  silk  purse  out  of  a 
sow's  ear.' ' 

Ferdy  laughed.  He  had  never  heard  the  quaint 
old  saying  before,  and  as  it  was  time  for  Mr. 
Brock  to  go,  no  more  was  said. 

But  both  Miss  Lilly  and  Ferdy  had  their  own 
thoughts  and  kept  their  own  opinion. 

Ferdy's  own  work  made  him  very  happy,  and  of 
its  kind  it  was  very  nice.  His  little  mind  was 
full  of  sweet  and  pretty  fancies,  but  these,  of 
course,  for  such  a  mere  child  as  he  was,  and 
especially  as  he  could  not  sit  up  to  do  his 


"  MY   PUPILS  "  149 

carving,  it  was  very  difficult  to  put  into  actual 
shape. 

But  his  happy  cheeriness  kept  him  from  being 
discouraged. 

"I  shall  never  be  as  clever  as  Jesse,"  he  told 
Miss  Lilly  and  Christine,  "but  I  don't  mind. 
P'r'aps  when  we're  big  I'll  think  of  things  for 
Jesse  to  do." 

"  You  can't  tell  yet  what  you  may  be  able  to  do 
when  you're  big,"  said  his  governess.  "  I  think  it 
is  wonderful  to  see  all  you  can  do  already.  Those 
animals  for  the  poor  little  children  at  the  hospital 
are  beautiful,  Ferdy." 

"  They're  toys"  said  Ferdy  with  some  contempt, 
"  only,"  more  cheerfully,  "  I'm  very  glad  if  they'll 
please  the  poor  little  children.  But  oh,  Miss  Lilly 
dear,  if  I  could  make  you  see  the  beautiful  things 
I  think!  The  prettiest  of  all  always  comes  some- 
thing like  the  oriel  window  —  like  an  oriel  window 
in  fairyland." 

"Was  there  a  window  like  that  in  the  house 
the  little  fairy  had  to  build,  do  you  think,  Miss 
Lilly?"  asked  Christine. 

"No,  of  course  not,"  said  Ferdy,  before  his  gov- 


150  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

erness  had  time  to  answer.  "  My  th inked  win- 
dow isn't  built,  it's  cut  out;  it's  all  beautiful 
flowers  and  leaves,  like  the  real  window  in  sum- 
mer, only  far,  far  prettier.  And  there  are  birds' 
nests,  with  them  almost  flying,  they  are  so  light 
and  feathery  looking,  and  —  "  he  stopped,  and 
lay  back  with  his  eyes  closed  and  a  dreamy  smile 
on  his  face. 

"  When  you  are  older,"  said  Miss  Lilly,  "  I  hope 
you  will  travel  a  good  deal  and  go  to  see  some 
of  the  wonderful  carvings  there  are  in  Italy  and 
Germany,  and  indeed  in  England  too.  Not  only 
wood-carving,  but  sculpture.  Fancy,  stone  worked 
so  as  to  look  as  if  a  breath  of  air  would  make  it 
quiver!" 

She  spoke  perhaps  a  little  thoughtlessly,  and  in 
an  instant  she  felt  that  she  had  done  so,  for  Ferdy 
opened  his  big  blue  eyes  and  gazed  up  at  her  with 
a  strange  wistful  expression. 

"Miss  Lilly  dear,"  he  said,  "you  mustn't  count 
on  my  doing  anything  like  that  —  travelling,  I 
mean,  or  things  well  people  can  do.  P'r'aps,  you 
know,  I'll  be  all  my  life  like  this." 

Eva  turned  her  head  aside.      She  did  not  want 


151 

either  Ferdy  or  his  sister  to  see  that  his  quaint 
words  made  her  feel  very  sad  —  that,  indeed,  they 
brought  the  tears  very  near  her  eyes. 

And  in  a  minute  or  two  Ferdy  seemed  to  have 
forgotten  his  own  sad  warning.  He  was  laughing 
with  Christine  at  the  comical  expression  of  a  pig- 
ling which  he  had  mounted  on  the  back  of  a 
rather  eccentric-looking  donkey  —  it  was  his  first 
donkey,  and  he  had  found  it  more  difficult  than 
old  Jerrys. 

That  evening  a  pleasant  and  very  unexpected 
thing  happened. 

It  was  a  lesson  evening,  but  a  few  minutes 
before  the  time  a  message  was  brought  to  the 
oriel  room  by  good-natured  Thomas.  It  was  from 
Jesse  to  ask  if  he  might  come  up,  though  he 
knew  it  was  too  early,  as  he  wanted  "  pertickler " 
to  see  Master  Ferdy  before  "the  gentleman  came." 

"He  may,  mayn't  he,  Miss  Lilly?"  asked  the 
little  invalid. 

"  Oh  yes,"  Eva  replied.  She  was  careful  to 
please  Mrs.  Ross  by  not  letting  Jesse  ever  forget 
to  be  quite  polite  and  respectful,  and  never,  as 
he  would  have  called  it  himself,  "to  take  free- 


152  THE  ORIEL   WINDOW 

doms,"  and  there  was  a  sort  of  natural  quickness 
about  the  boy  which  made  it  easy  to  do  this. 

And  somehow,  even  the  few  hours  he  spent  at 
the  Watch  House  —  perhaps  too  the  refining  effect 
of  his  pretty  work  —  had  already  made  a  great 
change  in  him.  The  old  half-defiant,  half-good- 
natured,  reckless  look  had  left  him ;  he  was  quite 
as  bright  and  merry  as  before,  but  no  one  now, 
not  even  Flowers,  could  accuse  him  of  being 
"  impudent." 

He  came  in  now  with  an  eager  light  in  his  eyes, 
his  brown  face  ruddier  than  usual ;  but  he  did  not 
forget  to  stop  an  instant  at  the  door  while  he  made 
his  usual  bow  or  scrape  —  or  a  mixture  of  both. 

"Good  evening,  Jesse,"  said  Ferdy,  holding  out 
his  hand.  "  Why,  what  have  you  got  there  ?  "  as 
he  caught  sight  of  some  odd-shaped  packages  of 
various  sizes,  done  up  in  newspaper,  which  Jesse 
was  carrying. 

"Please,  Master  Ferdy,  I've  brought  'em  to 
show  you.  It's  my  pupils  as  has  done  them. 
They're  nothing  much,  I  know,  but  still  I'm  a  bit 
proud  of  'em,  and  I  wanted  to  show  them  to  you 
and  Miss  here,  first  of  all." 


153 

He  hastened,  with  fingers  almost  trembling  with 
eagerness,  to  unpack  the  queer-looking  parcels, 
Miss  Lilly,  at  a  glance  from  Ferdy,  coming  for- 
ward to  help  him.  Ferdy's  own  cheeks  flushed 
as  the  first  contents  came  to  light. 

"  Oh,"  he  exclaimed,  "  I  wish  I  could  sit  up ! " 

But  in  another  moment  he  had  forgotten  his 
little  cry  of  complaint,  so  interested  was  he  in  the 
curious  sight  before  him. 

All  sorts  and  shapes  of  wooden  objects  came  to 
view.  There  were  pigs'  heads,  evidently  modelled 
on  old  Jerry,  dogs,  and  horses,  and  cows,  some  not 
to  be  mistaken,  some  which  would,  it  must  be 
confessed,  have  been  the  better  for  a  label  with 
"This  is  a  — ,"  whatever  animal  it  was  meant 
to  be,  written  upon  it;  there  were  round  plates 
with  scalloped  edges,  some  with  a  very  simple 
wreath  of  leaves;  boxes  with  neat  little  stiff 
designs  on  the  lids  —  in  fact,  the  funniest  mixt- 
ure of  things  you  ever  saw,  but  all  with  attempt 
in  them  —  attempt,  and  good-will,  and  patience, 
and  here  and  there  a  touch  of  something  more  — 
of  real  talent,  however  untrained  —  in  them  all, 
or  almost  all,  signs  of  love  of  the  work. 


154  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

There  came  a  moment  or  two  of  absolute 
silence  —  silence  more  pleasing  to  Jesse  than  any 
words,  for  as  his  quick  eyes  glanced  from  one  to 
another  of  his  three  friends,  he  saw  that  it  was 
the  silence  of  delight  and  surprise. 

At  last  said  Ferdy,  his  words  tumbling  over 
each  other  in  his  eagerness,  "Miss  Lilly,  Chrissie, 
isn't  it  wonderful?  Do  you  hear  what  Jesse  says? 
It's  his  pupils.  He's  been  teaching  what  he's  been 
learning.  Tell  us  all  about  it,  Jesse." 

"Do,  do,"  added  Eva.  "Yes,  Ferdy,  you're 
quite  right  —  it's  wonderful.  Who  are  they  all, 
Jesse?" 

"  There's  about  a  dozen,  altogether,"  began 
Jesse,  with,  for  the  first  time,  a  sort  of  shyness. 
"  It  began  with  one  or  two  at  the  farm ;  seein' 
me  so  busy  of  an  evening,  they  thought  it'd  be 
better  fun  nor  throwin'  sticks  into  the  water  for 
the  dogs  to  catch,  or  smokin'  them  rubbishin' 
sham  cigars.  We  sat  in  the  barn,  and  then  one 
day  I  met  Barney  —  Barney  Coles,  cousin's  son 
to  Uncle  Bill  at  Draymoor.  Barney's  not  a  bad 
chap,  and  he's  been  ill  and  can't  go  in  the  mines. 
And  we  talked  a  bit,  and  he  axed  how  it  was 


WE   WORKS    IN   A   SHED    THERE,    IN   A   FIELD    BY   THE    SMITHY    .    .    . 

AND  WE'RE  AS  JOLLY  AS  SAND-BOYS."— P.  155. 


155 

I  never  come  their  way,  and  I  said  how  busy  I 
was,  and  he  might  see  for  hisself.  So  he  corned, 
and  he's  got  on  one  of  the  fastest  —  with  plain 
work  like,"  and  Jesse  picked  out  one  or  two 
neat  little  boxes  and  plates,  with  stiff  unfanciful 
patterns,  carefully  done.  "He's  lots  of  time  just 
now,  you  see,  and  he's  got  a  good  eye  for  meas- 
uring. And  then  he  brought  one  or  two  more, 
but  I  was  afraid  master  wouldn't  be  best  pleased 
at  such  a  lot  of  us,  so  now  I  go  two  evenings 
a  week  to  Bollins,  close  by  your  place,  miss," 
with  a  nod,  not  in  the  least  intended  to  be 
disrespectful,  in  Miss  Lilly's  direction,  "  and  we 
works  in  a  shed  there,  in  a  field  by  the  smithy. 
We  got  leave  first,  that's  all  right,  and  we  fixed 
up  a  plank  table  and  some  benches,  and  we're 
as  jolly  as  sand-boys.  I've  often  had  it  in  my 
mind  to  tell  you,  but  I  thought  I'd  better  wait 
a  bit  till  I  had  somethin'  to  show." 

"You  will  tell  Mr.  Brock  about  it?"  said  Miss 
Lilly.  "  He  will  be  nearly  as  pleased  as  we  are  — 
he  can't  be  quite.  I  don't  think  I  have  ever  been 
more  pleased  in  rny  life,  Jesse." 

It   was    "  wonderful,"  as    Ferdy  had   said.     Jesse 


156  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

Piggot,  the  ringleader  in  every  sort  of  mischief, 
the  "  cheeky  young  rascal "  out  of  one  scrape  into 
another,  to  have  started  a  class  for  "art  work" 
among  the  rough  colliery  boys  of  Draymoor! 

"  Oh,  I  do  wish  grandfather  were  back  again," 
Eva  went  on.  "  He  will  help  you,  Jesse,  in  every 
way  he  possibly  can,  I  know." 

"  We  should  be  proud  if  the  old  doctor'd  look 
at  what  we're  doing,"  said  Jesse.  "And  there's 
several  things  I'd  like  to  ask  about.  Some  of  the 
boys  don't  take  to  the  carving,  but  they're  that 
quick  at  drawin'  things  to  do,  or  fancy-like  pat- 
terns that  couldn't  be  done  in  wood,  but'd  make 
beautiful  soft  things  —  couldn't  they  be  taught 
better?  And  Barney  says  he's  heard  tell  of  brass 
work.  I've  never  seen  it,  but  he  says  it's  done  at 
some  of  the  Institutes*  Whittingham  way,  and  he'd 
like  that  better  than  wood  work." 

He  stopped,  half  out  of  breath  with  the  rush 
of  ideas  that  were  taking  shape  in  his  mind. 

"I  know  what  you  mean,"  said  Miss  Lilly.  "I 
have  seen  it.  I  think  it  is  an  ancient  art  revived 
again.  Yes,  I  don't  see  why  it  would  not  be 
possible  to  get  teaching  in  it.  And  then  there's 


157 

-basket  work,  that  is  another  thing  that  can  be 
quite  done  at  home,  and  very  pretty  things  can 
be  made  in  it.  It  might  suit  some  of  the  lads 
who  are  not  much  good  at  carving." 

"  Them  moss  baskets  of  Master  Ferdy's  are 
right-down  pretty,"  said  Jesse.  "And  you  can 
twist  withies  about,  beautiful." 

His  eyes  sparkled  —  his  ideas  came  much  quicker 
than  his  power  of  putting  them  into  words. 

"There's  no  want  of  pretty  things  to  copy,"  he 
said  after  a  little  silence. 

"No  indeed,"  said  Miss  Lilly. 

But  at  that  moment  the  door  opened  to  admit 
Mr.  Brock.  A  start  of  surprise  came  over  the 
wood-carver  as  he  caught  sight  of  the  table 
covered  with  Jesse's  exhibition.  And  then  it  had 
all  to  be  explained  to  him,  in  his  turn.  He  was 
interested  and  pleased,  but  scarcely  in  the  same 
way  as  Eva  and  Ferdy. 

"  We  must  look  them  all  over,"  he  said,  "  and 
carefully  separate  any  work  that  gives  signs  of 
taste  or  talent.  It  is  no  use  encouraging  lads  who 
have  neither." 

Jesse's  face  fell.     He    had  somehow  known   that 


158  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

Mr.  Brock  would  not  feel  quite  as  his  other 
friends  did  about  his  "pupils." 

"  Yes,"  said  Miss  Lilly,  "  it  will  no  doubt  be  a 
good  thing  to  classify  the  work  to  some  extent. 
But  I  would  not  discourage  any,  Mr.  Brock. 
Taste  may  grow,  if  not  talent;  and  if  there  are 
only  one  or  two  boys  with  skill  enough  to  do  real 
work,  surely  the  pleasure  and  interest  of  making 
something  in  their  idle  hours  must  be  good  for 
all?" 

The  wood-carver  smiled  indulgently.  He  thought 
the  young  lady  rather  fanciful,  but  still  he  could 
go  along  with  her  to  a  certain  extent. 

"  Well,  yes,"  he  agreed.  "  At  worst  it  is  harm- 
less. When  the  doctor  returns,  Miss  Lilly,  we 
must  talk  it  all  over  with  him;  I  am  anxious  to 
consult  him  about — "  he  glanced  in  Jesse's  direc- 
tion meaningly,  without  the  boy's  noticing  it.  For 
Jesse  and  Ferdy  were  eagerly  picking  out  for  their 
teacher's  approval  some  of  the  bits  of  carving 
which  their  own  instinct  had  already  told  them 
showed  promise  of  better  things. 


CHAPTER   X 

TAKING    REFUGE 

IT  was  a  Saturday  afternoon. 

Ferdy,  as  he  lay  on  his  couch  in  the  oriel  win- 
dow, looked  out  half  sadly.  The  lawn  and  gar- 
den-paths below  were  thickly  strewn  with  fallen 
leaves,  for  the  summer  was  gone  —  the  long  beau- 
tiful summer  which  had  seemed  as  if  it  were  going 
to  stay  "for  always."  And  the  autumn  was  al- 
ready old  enough  to  make  one  feel  that  winter 
had  started  on  its  journey  southwards  from  the  icy 
lands  which  are  its  real  home. 

There  were  no  swallow  voices  to  be  heard. 

Oh  no ;  the  last  of  the  little  tenants  of  the 
nests  overhead  had  said  good-bye  several  weeks 
ago  now.  Ferdy 's  fancy  had  often  followed  them 
in  their  strange  mysterious  journey  across  the  sea. 

"  I  wonder,"  he  thought,  "  if  they  really  were 
rather  sorry  to  go  this  year  —  sorrier  than  usual, 
because  of  me." 

159 


160  THE   ORIEL    WINDOW 

He  took  up  a  bit  of  carving  that  he  had  been 
working  at;  it  was  meant  to  be  a  small  frame  for 
a  photograph  of  Chrissie,  and  he  hoped  to  get  it 
finished  in  time  for  his  mother's  birthday.  It  was 
very  pretty,  for  he  had  made  great  progress  in 
the  last  few  months.  In  and  out  round  the  frame 
twined  the  foliage  he  had  copied  from  the  real 
leaves  surrounding  his  dear  window,  and  up  in 
one  corner  was  his  pet  idea  —  a  swallow's  head, 
"face,"  Ferdy  called  it,  peeping  out  from  an  im- 
aginary nest  behind.  This  head  was  as  yet  far 
from  completed,  and  he  almost  dreaded  to  work 
at  it,  so  afraid  was  he  of  spoiling  it.  To-day  he 
had  given  it  a  few  touches  which  pleased  him, 
and  he  took  it  up,  half  meaning  to  do  a  little 
more  to  it,  but  he  was  feeling  tired,  and  laid  it 
down  again  and  went  back  to  his  own  thoughts, 
as  his  blue  eyes  gazed  up  dreamily  into  the  grey, 
somewhat  stormy-looking  autumn  sky. 

Some  changes  had  come  in  the  last  few  months. 
Dr.  Lilly  was  at  home  again,  so  Ferdy  and  Chris- 
tine no  longer  had  entire  possession  of  their  dear 
governess,  though  they  still  saw  her  every  day 
except  Sunday,  and  sometimes  even  then  too. 


TAKING   REFUGE  161 

Ferdy  was,  on  the  whole,  a  little  stronger,  though 
less  well  than  when  able  to  be  out  for  several 
hours  together  in  the  open  air.  What  the  doc- 
tors now  thought  as  to  the  chances  of  his  ever 
getting  quite  well,  he  did  not  know;  he  had  left 
off  asking.  Children  live  much  in  the  present, 
or  if  not  quite  that,  in  a  future  which  is  made  by 
their  own  thoughts  and  feelings  in  the  present. 
And  he  had  grown  accustomed  to  his  life,  and  to 
putting  far  before  him,  mistily,  the  picture  of  the 
day  when  he  would  be  "all  right  again."  He  had 
not  really  given  up  the  hope  of  it,  though  his 
mother  sometimes  thought  he  had. 

The  truth  was  that  as  yet  the  doctors  did  not 
know  and  could  not  say. 

But  the  present  had  many  interests  and  much 
happiness  in  it  for  Ferdy,  little  as  he  would  have 
been  able  to  believe  this,  had  he  foreseen  all  he 
was  to  be  deprived  of  in  a  moment  that  sad  May 
morning. 

His  friendship  for  Jesse  was  one  of  the  things 
he  got  a  great  deal  from.  Nothing  as  yet  was 
settled  about  the  boy's  future,  eager  though  Mr. 
Brock  was  to  see  him  launched  in  another  kind 


162  THE   ORIEL    WINDOW 

of  life.  For  both  Mr.  Ross  and  Dr.  Lilly  felt  that 
any  great  step  of  the  sort  must  first  be  well 
thought  over,  especially  as  Jesse  was  now  working 
steadily  at  Farmer  Meare's  and  earning  regular 
wages,  and  seemingly  quite  contented.  Though  he 
had  had  his  troubles  too.  Some  of  his  old  wild  com- 
panions were  very  jealous  of  him  and  very  spite- 
ful; and  bit  by  bit  a  sort  of  league  had  been 
started  against  him  among  the  worst  and  roughest 
of  the  Draymoor  lads,  several  of  whom  were  angry 
at  not  being  allowed  to  join  the  class  in  the  shed 
at  Bollins,  some  still  more  angry  at  having  been 
sent  away  from  the  class,  for  Jesse  and  his  friend 
Barney  who  acted  as  a  sort  of  second  in  command 
were  very  particular  as  to  whom  they  took  as 
pupils.  Or  rather  as  to  whom  they  kept ;  they  did 
not  mind  letting  a  boy  come  two  or  three  times 
to  see  "what  it  was  like,"  but  if  he  turned  out 
idle  or  disturbing  to  the  others,  and  with  no  real 
interest  in  the  work,  he  was  told  in  very  plain 
terms  that  he  need  not  come  back. 

They  were  patient  with  some  rather  dull  and 
stupid  lads,  however.  Barney  especially  so.  For 
he  was  very  "  quick  "  himself.  And  some  of  these 


TAKING    REFUGE  163 

dull  ones  really  were  the  most  satisfactory.  They 
were  so  very  proud  of  finding  that  they  could, 
with  patience  and  perseverance,  "make"  some- 
thing, useful  at  any  rate,  if  not  highly  ornamental. 
No  one  who  has  not  been  tried  in  this  way  knows 
the  immense  pleasure  of  the  first  feeling  of  the 
power  to  "make." 

These  things  Ferdy  was  thinking  of,  among 
others,  as  he  lay  there  quietly  this  afternoon.  He 
was  alone,  except  for  an  occasional  "  look  in  "  from 
Thomas  or  Flowers,  as  Mr.  Ross  had  taken  his 
wife  and  Christine  for  a  drive. 

Ferdy  had  grown  much  older  in  the  last  few 
months  in  some  ways.  He  had  had  so  much  time 
for  thinking.  And  though  he  did  not,  as  I  have 
said,  trouble  himself  much  about  his  own  future, 
he  thought  a  good  deal  about  Jesse's. 

There  was  no  doubt  that  Jesse  was  very  clever  at 
carving.  Ferdy  knew  it,  and  saw  it  for  himself, 
and  Miss  Lilly  thought  so,  and  the  old  doctor 
thought  so;  and  most  of  them  all,  Mr.  Brock 
thought  so.  But  for  some  weeks  past  Mr.  Brock's 
lessons  had  stopped.  He  had  been  sent  away  by 
the  firm  at  Whittingham  who  employed  him,  to 


164  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

see  to  the  restoration  of  an  old  house  in  the  coun- 
try, where  the  wood  carving,  though  much  out  of 
repair,  was  very  fine,  and  required  a  careful  and 
skilful  workman  to  superintend  its  repair. 

So  there  seemed  to  be  no  one  at  hand  quite  as 
eager  about  Jesse  as  Ferdy  himself. 

"The  winter  is  coming  fast,"  thought  the  little 
invalid,  "  and  they  can't  go  on  working  in  the 
shed.  And  Jesse  may  get  into  idle  ways  again  — 
he's  not  learning  anything  new  now.  It  fidgets  me 
so.  I'd  like  him  to  be  sent  to  some  place  where 
he'd  get  on  fast.  I  don't  believe  he  cares  about 
it  himself  half  as  much  as  I  care  about  it  for  him. 
And  he's  so  taken  up  with  his  'pupils.'  I  won- 
der what  could  be  done  about  getting  some  one 
to  teach  them.  Barney  isn't  clever  enough.  Oh,  if 
only  mamma  wouldn't  be  so  afraid  of  my  tiring  my- 
self, and  would  let  me  have  a  class  for  them  up 
here  in  the  winter  evenings !  Or  I  might  have 
two  classes,  —  there  are  only  ten  or  twelve  of  them 
altogether,  —  and  once  a  week  or  so  Mr.  Brock 
might  come  to  help  me,  or  not  even  as  often  as 
that.  If  he  came  once  a  fortnight  or  even  once 
a  month  he  could  see  how  they  were  getting  on, 


TAKING   REFUGE  165 

—  extra  coming,  I  mean,  besides  his  teaching  me, 
for  of  course  the  more  I  learn  the  better  I  can 
teach  them.  And  another  evening  we  might  have 
a  class  for  something  else — baskets  or  something 
not  so  hard  as  carving.  Miss  Lilly's  learning  bas- 
kets, I  know.  And  then  Jesse  wouldn't  mind 
leaving  his  pupils.  Oh,  I  do  wish  it  could  be  set- 
tled. I  wish  I  could  talk  about  it  again  to  Dr. 
Lilly.  I  don't  think  Jesse's  quite  am —  I  can't 
remember  the  word  —  caring  enough  about  getting 
on  to  be  something  great." 

Poor  Jesse,  it  was  not  exactly  want  of  ambition 
with  him.  It  was  simply  that  the  idea  of  becoming 
anything  more  than  a  farm-labourer  had  never  yet 
entered  his  brain.  He  thought  himself  very  lucky 
indeed  to  be  where  he  now  was,  and  to  have  the 
chance  of  improving  in  his  dearly  loved  "  carving  " 
without  being  mocked  at  or  interfered  with,  neither 
of  which  so  far  had  actually  been  the  case,  though 
there  had  been  some  unpleasant  threatenings  in  the 
air  of  late.  His  efforts  to  interest  and  improve 
the  boys  of  the  neighbourhood  had  been  looked 
upon  with  suspicion — with  more  suspicion  than  he 
had  known  till  quite  lately,  when  he  and  Barney 


166  THE    ORIEL   WINDOW 

had  been  trying  to  get  some  one  to  lend  them  a 
barn  or  an  empty  room  of  any  kind  for  the  winter. 

"What  was  he  after  now?  Some  mischief,  you 
might  be  sure,  or  he  wouldn't  be  Jesse  Piggot." 

So  much  easier  is  it  to  gain  "a  bad  name,"  than 
to  live  one  down. 

uOh,"  thought  little  Ferdy,  "I  do  wish  something 
could  be  settled  about  Jesse." 

He  was  growing  restless  —  restless  and  nervous, 
which  did  not  often  happen.  Was  it  the  gloomy 
afternoon,  or  the  being  so  long  alone,  or  what? 
The  clouds  overhead  were  growing  steely-blue, 
rather  than  grey.  Could  it  be  going  to  thunder? 
Surely  it  was  too  cold  for  that.  Perhaps  there 
was  a  storm  of  some  other  kind  coming  on  — 
heavy  rain  or  wind,  perhaps. 

And  mamma  and  Chrissie  would  get  so  wet ! 

If  only  they  would  come  in !  Ferdy  began  to 
feel  what  he  very  rarely  did  —  rather  sorry  for  him- 
self. It  was  nervousness,  one  of  the  troubles  which 
are  the  hardest  to  bear  in  a  life  such  as  Ferdy's 
had  become  and  might  continue.  But  this  he 
was  too  young  to  understand ;  he  thought  he  was 
cross  and  discontented,  and  this  self-reproach  only 


TAKING   REFUGE  167 

made  him  the  more  uncomfortable.  These  feelings, 
however,  were  not  allowed  to  go  very  far  that 
afternoon.  A  sound  reached  Ferdy's  quick  ears 
which  made  him  look  up  sharply  and  glance  out 
of  the  window.  Some  one  was  running  rapidly 
along  the  drive  towards  the  house. 

It  was  Jesse. 

But  fast  as  he  came,  his  way  of  moving  told  of 
fatigue.  He  had  run  far,  and  seemed  nearly  spent. 

Ferdy's  heart  began  to  beat  quickly,  something 
must  be  the  matter.  Could  it  be  an  accident? 
Oh !  if  anything  had  happened  to  his  father  and 
mother  and  Chrissie,  and  Jesse  had  been  sent  for 
help!  But  in  that  case  he  would  have  gone 
straight  to  the  stable-yard,  and  as  this  thought 
struck  him,  Ferdy  breathed  more  freely  again. 
Perhaps,  after  all,  it  was  only  some  message  and 
nothing  wrong,  and  Jesse  had  been  running  fast 
just  for  his  own  amusement. 

The  little  boy  lay  still  and  listened.  In  a  minute 
or  two  he  heard  footsteps  coming  upstairs.  Then  a 
slight  tap  at  the  door  —  Thomas's  tap  —  and  almost 
without  waiting  for  an  answer,  the  footman  came  in. 

"  It's   Jesse,   Master   Ferdy,"   he   began.     "  Jesse 


168  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

Piggot.  He's  run  all  the  way  from  Bollins,  and 
lie's  pretty  well  done.  He's  begging  to  see  you. 
He's  in  some  trouble,  but  he  won't  tell  me  what. 
I'm  afraid  your  mamma  won't  be  best  pleased  if  I 
let  him  up,  but  I  don't  know  what  to  do,  he  seems 
in  such  a  state." 

Ferdy  raised  himself  a  little  on  his  couch. 
There  must  be  something  very  much  the  matter 
for  Jesse,  merry,  light-hearted  Jesse,  to  be  in  a 
"  state  "  at  all. 

"  Let  him  come  up  at  once,  Thomas,  I'll  put  it 
all  right  with  mamma,"  he  began,  but  before  Thomas 
had  time  for  any  more  hesitation  the  matter  was 
taken  out  of  his  hands  by  Jesse's  short-cropped, 
dark  head  appearing  in  the  doorway. 

"  Oh,  Master  Ferdy ! "  he  exclaimed,  in  a  choking 
voice,  " mayn't  I  come  in?" 

"Of  course,"  said  Ferdy  quickly.  "It's  all  right, 
Thomas,"  with  a  touch  of  impatience,  "I'll  call 
you  if  I  want  you,"  and  Thomas  discreetly  with- 
drew, closing  the  door  behind  him. 

"They're  after  me,  Master  Ferdy,"  were  Jesse's 
first  words,  "at  least  I'm  afraid  they  are,  though 
I  tried  my  best  to  dodge  them." 


TAKING   KEFUGB  169 

"Who?"  exclaimed  Ferdy. 

uThe  p'lice  and  Bill  Turner's  father,  and  a 
lot  of  them,  and  oh,  Master  Ferdy,  some  one  called 
out  he  was  killed!" 

"Who?"  said  Ferdy  again,  though  his  own 
cheeks  grew  white  at  Jesse's  words.  "And  what 
is  it  that's  happened,  and  what  do  you  want  me 
to  do.  You  must  tell  me  properly,  Jesse." 

It  said  a  good  deal  for  Ferdy's  self-control 
that  he  was  able  to  speak  so  quietly  and  sensi- 
bly, for  he  was  feeling  terribly  startled.  Jesse 
choked  down  his  gasping  breath,  which  was  very 
nearly  turning  into  sobs. 

"I  didn't  want  to  frighten  you,  Master  Ferdy. 
I  didn't  ought  to,  I  know,  but  I  couldn't  think 
what  else  to  do.  It's  that  Bill  Turner,  Master 
Ferdy,"  and  at  the  name  he  gave  a  little  shudder. 
"  He  was  in  the  class  once,  but  it  was  only  out 
of  mischief.  He  did  no  good  and  tried  to  upset 
the  others.  So  Barney  and  I  wouldn't  keep  him 
at  no  price,  and  he's  gone  on  getting  nastier  and 
nastier,  and  the  other  day  he  'called'  me  —  he 
did  —  so  that  I  couldn't  stand  it,  and  I  went 
for  him.  It  didn't  hurt  him,  but  it  made  him 


170  THE  ORIEL  WINDOW 

madder  than  ever,  and  he  said  he'd  pay  me  out. 
And  this  afternoon  when  Barney  and  me  were 
sorting  the  carvings  at  the  shed  —  we've  a  box 
we  keep  them  all  in,  there  —  Bill  comes  down 
upon  us,  him  and  some  others.  They  got  hold 
of  'em  all  and  smashed  'em  up  and  kicked  them 
to  pieces  —  all  to  pieces,  Master  Ferdy" — with 
a  sort  of  wail,  almost  of  despair,  in  his  voice. 
"  All  the  things  we've  been  at  for  so  long !  We 
were  going  to  make  a  show  of  them  at  Christ- 
mas; and  I  couldn't  stand  it,  I  went  at  him 
like  a  wild  beast  —  it  was  for  the  other  lads  I 
minded  so  —  though  he's  much  bigger  nor  me, 
and  I  got  him  down,  and  he  lay  there  without 
moving,  and  some  one  called  out  he  was  dead, 
and  then  the  p'lice  came,  and  one  of  'em  caught 
hold  of  me,  but  I  got  loose  and  I  started  run- 
ning—  I  scarce  knew  what  I  was  doing.  I  just 
thought  I'd  get  here,  and  you'd  tell  me  what 
to  do.  He  can't  be  dead,  Master  Ferdy,"  he  went 
on,  dropping  his  voice  —  "you  don't  think  he  can 
be?  I  didn't  seem  to  know  what  it  meant  till 
I  got  here  and  began  to  think." 

"I  don't  know,"  said  Ferdy,  again  growing  very 


TAKING   REFUGE  171 

pale,  while  poor  Jesse's  face  was  all  blotched  in 
great  patches  of  red  and  white,  and  smeared  with 
the  tears  he  had  tried  to  rub  off.  "Oh,  I  do  wish 
papa  and  mamma  would  come  in !  I  don't  know 
what  to  do.  Do  you  think  they  saw  you  running 
this  way,  Jesse?" 

"I  —  I  don't  know,  Master  Ferdy.  I  hope  not, 
but  there  was  a  lot  of  the  boys  about  —  Draymoor 
boys,  I  mean  —  Bill's  lot,  and  they  may  have 
tracked  me.  Of  course  none  of  my  boys,"  he 
added,  lifting  his  head  proudly,  "  would  peach  on 
me,  whatever  the  p'lice  did." 

But  even  as  he  spoke,  there  came,  faintly  and 
confusedly,  the  sound  of  approaching  steps  along 
the  road  just  beyond  the  hedge,  and  a  murmur  of 
several  voices  all  talking  together.  It  might  not 
have  caught  Ferdy's  attention  at  any  other  time, 
but  just  now  both  his  ears  and  Jesse's  were 
sharpened  by  anxiety. 

"  They're  a  coming,  Master  Ferdy,"  exclaimed 
the  poor  boy,  growing  still  whiter. 

"  Never  mind,"  said  Ferdy,  trying  hard  to  be 
brave,  "  Thomas  is  all  right,  he  won't  let  them 
come  up  here." 


172  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

"  Oh,  but  maybe  he  can't  stop  them/'  said  Jesse. 
"The  p'lice  can  force  their  way  anywheres.  I 
wouldn't  mind  so  much  if  it  had  to  be  —  like  if 
your  papa  was  here  and  said  I  must  go  to  prison. 
But  if  they  take  me  off  now  with  no  one  to 
speak  up  for  me,  seems  to  me  as  if  I'd  never  get 
out  again." 

Poor  Ferdy  was  even  more  ignorant  than  Jesse 
of  everything  to  do  with  law  and  prisons  and  the 
like;  he  looked  about  him  almost  wildly. 

"Jesse,"  he  said  in  a  whisper.  "I  know  what 
to  do.  Creep  under  my  couch  and  lie  there  quite 
still.  Thomas  is  all  right,  and  nobody  else  saw 
you  come  up,  did  they?" 

"No  one  else  saw  me  at  all,"  Jesse  replied, 
dropping  his  voice,  and  going  down  on  his  hands 
and  knees,  "better  luck.  I'll  keep  still,  no  fear, 
Master  Ferdy,"  his  boyish  spirits  already  rising 
again  at  the  idea  of  "  doing  the  p'lice,"  "  and 
they'd  never  dare  look  under  your  sofa." 

He  scrambled  in,  but  put  his  head  out  again 
for  a  moment  to  whisper  in  an  awestruck  tone, 
"But  oh,  Master  Ferdy,  if  they  do  come  up  here, 
please  try  to  find  out  if  Bill  Turner's  so  badly 


TAKING    REFUGE  173 

hurt  as    they  said.      I  know  it  can't  be   true   that 
I  did  as  bad  as  that" 

All  the  same  he  was  terribly  frightened  and 
remorseful.  Ferdy  scarcely  dared  to  reply,  for  by 
this  time  a  group  of  men  and  boys  was  coming 
up  the  drive,  and  a  constable  in  front  marched 
along  as  if  he  meant  business,  for  as  Ferdy 
watched  them,  he  turned  round  and  waved  back 
the  eight  or  ten  stragglers  who  were  following 
him,  though  he  still  held  by  the  arm  a  thin,  pale- 
faced  little  fellow  whom  he  had  brought  with 
him  all  the  way.  This  was  Barney,  poor  Jesse's 
first  lieutenant. 

Another  minute  or  two  passed.  Then  hurrying 
steps  on  the  stairs  again,  and  Thomas  reappeared, 
looking  very  excited. 

"  Master  Ferdy,"  he  exclaimed,  but  stopped  short 
on  seeing  that  his  little  master  was  alone.  "Bless 
me !  "  he  ejaculated  under  his  breath,  "  he's  gone ! 
and  I  never  saw  him  leave  the  house." 

"What  is  it,  Thomas?"  said  Ferdy,  trying  to 
speak  and  look  as  usual.  "I  saw  the  constable 
come  in  —  you  must  tell  him  papa's  out." 

"  I  have  told  him  so,  sir,  and  I'm  very  sorry,  but 


174  THE  ORIEL  WINDOW 

he  will  have  it  he  must  see  you.  Some  one's  been 
and  told  that  Jesse  ran  this  way." 

"Let  him  come  up  then,"  said  Ferdy,  with  dig- 
nity, "  though  I'm  sure  papa  will  be  very  angry,  and 
I  don't  believe  he's  any  right  to  force  his  way  in ! 
But  I'm  not  afraid  of  him!"  proudly. 

"  Master  will  be  angry  for  certain,"  said  Thomas, 
"  very  angry,  and  I've  told  the  constable  so.  But 
he's  in  a  temper,  and  a  very  nasty  one,  and  won't 
listen  to  reason.  He  says  them  Dray  moor  boys  are 
getting  past  bearing.  I  only  hope,"  he  went  on, 
speaking  more  to  himself,  as  he  turned  to  leave  the 
room  again,  "I  only  hope  he  won't  get  me  into  a 
scrape  too  for  letting  him  up  to  frighten  Master 
Ferdy  —  not  that  he  is  frightened  all  the  same ! " 


CHAPTER   XI 

UNDER   THE   SOFA 

Two  minutes  later  the  burly  form  of  Constable 
Brownrigg  appeared  at  the  door.  He  was  already, 
to  tell  the  truth,  cooling  down  a  little  and  begin- 
ning to  feel  rather  ashamed  of  himself ;  and  when 
his  eyes  lighted  on  the  tiny  figure  in  the  window 
—  looking  even  smaller  and  more  fragile  than  Ferdy 
really  was  —  the  clumsy  but  far  from  bad-hearted 
man  could  at  first  find  nothing  to  say  for  himself. 
Then- 

"  I  beg  pardon,  sir,  I  hope  I  haven't  upset  you, 
but  dooty's  dooty  !  " 

Ferdy  raised  his  head  a  little,  and  looked  the 
constable  straight  in  the  face,  without  condescend- 
ing to  notice  the  half  apology. 

"  What  is  it  you  want  of  me  ? " .  he  said 
coldly. 

"  It's  all  along  of  that  there  Jesse  Piggot,"  re- 
plied Brownrigg,  "  as  bad  a  lot  as  ever  were ! " 

175 


176  THE    ORIEL   WINDOW 

"What's  he  been  doing?"  said  Ferdy  again  in 
the  same  tone,  rather  turning  the  tables  upon  the 
constable,  as  if  he  —  Brownrigg  —  and  not  Ferdy 
himself,  was  the  one  to  be  cross-questioned. 

The  man  glanced  round  him  half  suspiciously. 

uHe  was  seen   coming  here,  sir." 

"  Well,  suppose  he  had  come  here,  you  can't  take 
him  up  for  that?"  said  the  boy.  "I'm  asking  you 
what  harm  he'd  done." 

"  He  got  up  a  row  at  Bollins  this  afternoon,  and 
half  killed  a  poor  lad  —  Bill  Turner  by  name  — 
threw  him  down  and  half  stunned  him." 

"Half  stunned  him,"  repeated  Ferdy,  "that's  not 
quite  the  same  as  half  killing  him.  Have  you  sent 
him  to  the  hospital  ? " 

"  Well  no,  sir,"  said  the  constable,  "  he  come  to 
again  —  them  boys  has  nine  lives  more  than  cats. 
I  don't  suppose  he's  really  much  the  worse.  But 
these  Draymoor  fights  must  be  put  a  stop  to,  they're 
getting  worse  and  worse ;  I've  had  orders  to  that 
effect,"  drawing  himself  up. 

"And  has  Jesse  Piggot  been  mixed  up  with 
them  lately?"  said  Ferdy  severely. 

Again  the  constable  looked  rather  small. 


UNDER   THE   SOFA  177 

"Well  no,  sir,"  he  repeated,  "but  what  does  that 
matter,  if  he's  been  the  offender  to-day." 

This  was  true  enough. 

"  But  what  do  you  want  me  to  do  ? "  asked 
Ferdy. 

"  To  detain  the  lad  if  he  comes  here  and  give 
him  up  to  the  lawful  authorities,"  said  Brownrigg 
more  fluently.  "Everybody  knows  you've  been 
very  kind  to  him,  but  it's  no  true  kindness  to 
screen  him  from  the  punishment  he  deserves." 

A  new  idea  struck  Ferdy. 

"Did  he  begin  the  fight  then? "  he  said.  "There's 
such  a  thing  as  —  as  defending  oneself,  quite  rightly. 
Supposing  the  other  boy  started  it  ?  " 

"That  will  be  all  gone  into  in  the  proper  time 
and  place,"  said  Brownrigg  pompously.  "An  ex- 
ample must  be  made,  and  —  " 

Before  he  had  time  to  finish  his  sentence  Ferdy 
interrupted  him  joyfully.  He  had  just  caught 
sight  of  the  pony-carriage  driving  in  rapidly.  For 
some  garbled  account  of  what  had  happened  had 
been  given  to  Mr.  Ross  by  the  group  of  men  and 
boys  still  hanging  about  the  gates,  and  he  hurried 
in,  afraid  of  finding  his  boy  startled  and  upset. 


178  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

Nor  did  the  sight  of  the  stout  constable  reassure 
him.  On  the  contrary  it  made  Mr.  Ross  very  in- 
dignant. He  scarcely  noticed  Brownrigg's  half- 
apologetic  greeting. 

"  What's  all  this  ?  "  he  said  sharply.  "  Who  gave 
you  leave  to  come  up  here  and  disturb  an  invalid?" 

Brownrigg  grew  very  red,  and  murmured  some- 
thing about  his  "  dooty." 

"You've  exceeded  it  in  this  case,  I  think  you'll 
find,"  the  master  of  the  house  replied  severely. 
"  Step  downstairs  if  you  please,  and  then  I'll  hear 
what  you've  got  to  say,"  and  to  Ferdy's  inexpres- 
sible relief,  for  the  consciousness  of  Jesse's  near 
presence  was  beginning  to  make  him  terribly 
nervous. 

Mr.  Ross  held  the  door  wide  open  and  the 
constable  shamefacedly  left  the  room.  Scarcely 
had  he  done  so  when  there  came  a  subterranean 
whisper,  "  Master  Ferdy,"  it  said,  "  shall  I  come 
out?" 

"  No,  no,"  Ferdy  replied  quickly.  "  Stay  where 
you  are,  Jesse,  unless  you're  choking.  Mamma  will 
be  coming  in  most  likely.  Wait  till  papa  comes 
back  again,  and*  I  can  tell  him  all  about  it." 


"STEP   DOWNSTAIRS,   IP  YOU   PLEASE,   AND  THEN   I'LL  HEAR  WHAT 
YOU'VE  GOT   TO   SAY."— P.    178. 


UNDER   THE   SOFA  179 

Rather  to  Ferdy's  surprise,  the  answer  was  a  sort 
of  giggle. 

"I'm  all  right,  thank  you,  Master  Ferdy  —  as 
jolly  as  a  sand-boy.  And  you  did  speak  up  to 
the  old  bobby,  Master  Ferdy;  you  did  set  him 
down.  But  I'm  right  down  glad  Bill  Turner's 
none  the  worse,  I  am.  It  give  me  a  turn  when 
they  called  out  I'd  done  for  him." 

And  Ferdy  understood  then  that  the  giggle  came 
in  part  from  relief  of  mind. 

"  Hush  now,  Jesse,"  he  said.  "  I  want  to  watch 
for  Browiirigg's  going.  And  till  he's  clear  away, 
you'd  best  not  come  out,  nor  speak." 

There  was  not  very  long  to  wait.  For  though 
Mr.  Ross  spoke  out  his  mind  very  plainly  to  the 
constable,  he  made  short  work  of  it,  and  within 
ten  minutes  of  the  man  leaving  the  oriel  room, 
Ferdy  had  the  pleasure,  as  he  announced  to  Jesse 
in  a  sort  of  stage  whisper,  of  seeing  the  worthy 
Mr.  Brownrigg  walking  down  the  drive,  some 
degrees  less  pompously  than  on  his  arrival.  Nor 
was  he  now  accompanied  by  poor  little  Barney, 
whom  Mr.  Ross  had  kept  back,  struck  by  pity 
for  the  lad's  white,  frightened  face,  as  the  con- 


180  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

stable  could  not  say  that  there  was  any  "  charge  " 
against  him^  except  that  he  had  been  an  eye-wit- 
ness of  the  "row." 

"It's  all  right  now,  Jesse,"  Ferdy  added  in  a 
minute  or  two.  "  He's  quite  gone  —  old  Brown- 
rigg,  I  mean  —  so  you'd  better  come  out." 

Jesse  emerged  from  his  hiding-place,  a  good  deal 
redder  in  the  face  than  when  he  went  in,  though 
he  was  still  trembling  inwardly  at  the  idea  of 
meeting  Ferdy's  father. 

"You  don't  think,  Master  Ferdy  — "  he  was  be- 
ginning, when  the  door  opened  and  both  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Ross  came  in. 

"Ferdy,  darling,"  exclaimed  his  mother,  "you've 
not  been  really  frightened,  I  hope  — "  but  she 
stopped  short,  startled  by  an  exclamation  from  her 
husband. 

"  Jesse  !  "  he  said.  "  You  here  after  all !  Upon 
my  word ! "  And  for  a  moment  he  looked  as  if 
he  were  really  angry.  Then  the  absurd  side  of 
the  matter  struck  him,  and  it  was  with  some  diffi- 
culty that  he  suppressed  a  smile. 

"  My  dear  boy,"  he  went  on,  glancing  at  the  tiny, 
but  determined-looking  figure  on  the  couch,  "you'll 


UNDER   THE   SOFA  181 

be  having  your  poor  old  father  pulled  up  for 
conniving  at  felony." 

"I  don't  know  what  that  is,  papa,"  said  Ferdy. 
"But  if  it  means  hiding  Jesse  under  the  sofa  — 
yes,  I  did  do  it,  and  I'd  do  it  again.  It  wasn't 
Jesse  thought  of  it,  only  he  was  afraid  that  if 
Brownrigg  took  him  away  he'd  be  put  in  prison 
and  have  nobody  to  speak  up  for  him,  and  perhaps 
have  been  kept  there  for  ever  and  ever  so  long." 

"  Your  opinion  of  the  law  of  the  land  is  not  a 
very  high  one  apparently,  Jesse,"  said  Mr.  Ross, 
eying  the  boy  gravely. 

Jesse  shuffled  and  grew  very  red. 

"I'll  do  whatever  you  think  right,  sir,"  he  said 
stoutly.  "If  I  must  give  myself  up  to  Brownrigg, 
I'll  run  after  him  now.  I  don't  want  to  get  Mas- 
ter Ferdy  nor  you  into  any  bother  about  me,  after 
—  after  all  you've  done  for  me,"  and  for  the  first 
time  the  boy  broke  down,  turning  his  face  away 
to  hide  the  tears  which  he  tried  to  rub  off  with 
the  cuff  of  his  sleeve. 

"  Oh,  papa,"  said  Ferdy  pleadingly,  his  own 
eyes  growing  suspiciously  dewy,  "mamma,  mamma, 
look  at  him." 


182  THE  ORIEL   WINDOW 

Up  to  that  moment,  to  tell  the  truth,  Mrs. 
Ross's  feelings  towards  Jesse  had  not  been  very 
cordial.  The  sight  of  him  had  startled  her  and 
made  her  almost  as  indignant  with  him  as  with 
the  constable.  But  now  her  kind  heart  was 
touched.  She  glanced  at  her  husband,  but  what 
she  saw  already  in  his  face  set  her  mind  at  rest. 

"Come,  come,"  said  Mr.  Ross,  "don't  put  your- 
self out  about.it,  Ferdy.  Tell  me  the  whole  story 
quietly,  or  let  Jesse  do  so,"  and  after  swallowing 
one  or  two  sobs,  Jesse  found  voice  to  do  as  he 
was  desired.  He  told  his  tale  simply  and  without 
exaggeration,  though  his  voice  shook  and  quivered 
when  he  came  to  the  sad  part  of  the  destruction 
of  the  many  weeks'  labour  of  himself  and  his 
"  pupils,"  and  Mrs.  Ross  could  not  keep  back  a 
little  cry  of  indignation. 

"  It  is  certainly  not  Jesse  who  deserves  pun- 
ishment," she  said  eagerly,  turning  to  her 
husband. 

"If  he  could  have  controlled  himself,"  said  Mr. 
Ross,  "  to  the  point  of  not  knocking  down  that 
bully,  Turner,  his  case  would  have  been  a  still 
stronger  one.  Do  you  see  that,  my  boy?"  he 


UNDER   THE   SOFA  188 

went  on,  turning  to  Jesse,  who  murmured  some- 
thing indistinctly  in  reply. 

"I'm  glad  he  did  knock  him  down  all  the  same, 
papa,"  said  Ferdy.  "  You  don't  now  think  Jesse 
need  give  himself  up  to  the  p'lice?"  he  added 
anxiously. 

"  Certainly  not,"  said  Mr.  Ross,  "  but  it  will  be 
best  for  me  to  see  Brownrigg  and  tell  him  all  I 
now  know  —  except  —  no  I  don't  think  I  will 
tell  him  of  the  hiding-place  under  your  sofa, 
Ferdy."  Then  turning  again  to  Jesse,  "  To- 
morrow is  Sunday,"  he  said ;  "  do  you  generally  go 
to  see  your  friends  at  Draymoor  on  a  Sunday  ? " 

"  Sometimes,"  said  Jesse ;  "  not  always,  sir." 

"  Then  they  won't  think  anything  of  it  if  they 
don't  see  you  to-morrow?" 

"Oh  lor,  no,"  Jesse  replied.  "They'd  think 
nothing  of  it  if  they  never  saw  me  again.  It's 
only  Barney  that  cares  for  me  or  me  for  him  of 
all  that  lot." 

"  Oh  yes,  by  the  bye  —  Barney ! "  said  Mr.  Ross, 
starting  up.  "  I  left  him  downstairs,  poor  little 
fellow.  He  is  in  my  study  —  you  know  where 
that  is,  Jesse,  run  and  fetch  him,"  and  Jesse, 


184  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

delighted  at  this  proof  of  confidence,  started  off 
quite  cheerfully  on  his  errand. 

When  he  was  out  of  hearing,  Mr.  Ross  said 
thoughtfully,  "It  won't  do  for  that  lad  to  remain 
in  this  neighbourhood,  I  see.  I  must  have  a  talk 
about  him  again  with  Dr.  Lilly,  and  probably 
with  Brock.  Something  must  be  decided  as  to 
his  future,  and  if  he  really  has  talent  above  the 
average  he  must  be  put  in  the  right  way  towards 
making'  it  of  use." 

Ferdy's  eyes  sparkled;  sorry  as  he  would  be  to 
be  parted  from  Jesse,  this  was  what  he,  as  well 
as  Miss  Lilly,  had  long  been  hoping  for.  Before 
he  had  time  to  say  anything,  a  tap  at  the  door 
told  that  the  two  boys  were  outside. 

"  Come  in,"  said  Mr.  Ross,  and  then  Jesse 
reappeared,  half  leading,  half  pushing  his  small 
cousin  before  him. 

Mrs.  Ross  was  touched  by  Barney's  white  face 
and  general  air  of  delicacy. 

"Don't  look  so  scared,"  she  heard  Jesse  whisper 
to  him. 

"You  must  be  tired,  Barney,"  she  said  kindly. 
"Jesse  and  you  must  have  some  tea  before  you  go 
back  to  Draymoor." 


UNDER    THE    SOFA  185 

"Jesse's  not  to  go  back  to  Draymoor,  mamma," 
said  Ferdy,  looking  up  quickly. 

"No,"  said  Mr.  Ross,  "that  is  what  I  wish  to 
speak  to  Barney  about.  Will  you  tell  your  father, 
Barney  —  is  it  to  your  father's  house  that  Jesse 
goes  on  Sundays  generally?" 

"No,  sir,  please,  sir,  I  haven't  a  father  —  mother 
and  me's  alone.  It's  my  uncle's." 

"  Well,  then,  tell  your  uncle  from  me,"  con- 
tinued Mr.  Ross,  "that  I  think  it  best  to  keep 
Jesse  here  at  present,  and  that  he  was  not  to  blame 
for  the  affair  this  afternoon.  I  shall  see  the  con- 
stable again  about  it  myself." 

Barney's  face  expressed  mingled  relief  and  dis- 
appointment. 

"  Yes,  sir,'*  he  said  obediently.  "  There'll  be  no 
more  classes  then,  I  suppose  ? "  he  added  sadly. 
"  Is  Jesse  not  even  to  come  as  far  as  Bollins  ? " 

"Not  at  present,"  replied  Mr.  Ross,  and  then, 
feeling  sorry  for  the  little  fellow,  he  added :  "  If 
your  mother  can  spare  you,  you  may  come  over 
here  to-morrow  and  have  your  Sunday  dinner 
with  your  cousin  in  the  servants'  hall." 

Both  boys'  faces  shone  with  pleasure. 


186  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

"  And  will  you  tell  the  lads,  Barney,"  said  Jesse, 
"  how  it's  all  been.  And  what  I  minded  most  was 
their  things  being  spoilt." 

Barney's  face  grew  melancholy  again. 

"Don't  look  so  downhearted,"  said  Mr.  Ross. 
"  We  won't  forget  you  and  the  other  boys.  Your 
work  has  already  done  you  great  credit." 

Ferdy's  lips  opened  as  if  he  were  about  to 
speak,  but  the  little  fellow  had  learnt  great 
thoughtfulness  of  late,  and  he  wisely  decided  that 
what  he  had  to  say  had  better  be  kept  till  he  was 
alone  with  his  parents. 

Just  then  Christine  made  her  appearance,  very 
eager  to  know  more  about  the  constable's  visit  and 
the  exciting  events  of  the  afternoon.  So  Mrs. 
Ross  left  her  with  her  brother  while  she  herself 
took  the  two  boys  downstairs  to  put  them  into 
the  housekeeper's  charge  for  tea,  of  which  both 
struck  her  as  decidedly  in  need. 

"  Papa,"  said  Ferdy,  when  he  had  finished  going 
over  the  whole  story  again  for  his  sister's  benefit, 
"don't  you  think  if  Jesse  has  to  go  away  that  I 
might  take  on  the  class,  one  or  two  evenings  a 
week  any  way  ?  Mr.  Brock  might  come  sometimes  — 


UNDER   THE   SOFA  187 

extra,  you  know  —  just  to  see  how  they  were  get- 
ting on.  And  they  would  be  quite  safe  here,  and 
nobody  would  dare  to  spoil  their  things." 

"And  Miss  Lilly  and  I  would  help,"  said 
Christine  eagerly.  "There  are  some  of  them, 
Jesse  has  told  us,  that  want  to  learn  other  things 
—  not  only  wood-carving  —  that  ive  could  help 
them  with.  Miss  Lilly's  been  having  lessons  her- 
self in  basket-making." 

"  Dr.  Lilly  has  reason  to  be  proud  of  his  grand- 
daughter," said  Mr.  Ross  warmly.  "We  must 
talk  it  all  over.  It  would  certainly  seem  a  terri- 
ble pity  for  the  poor  fellows  to  lose  what  they 
have  gained,  not  merely  in  skill,  but  the  good 
habit  of  putting  to  use  some  of  their  leisure  hours 
—  miners  have  so  much  idle  time." 

"There's  the  big  empty  room  downstairs  near 
the  servants'  hall,"  said  Ferdy.  "Could  not  I  be 
carried  down  there,  papa  ?  " 

Mr.  Ross  hesitated.  He  felt  doubtful,  but  anx- 
ious not  to  disappoint  the  boy,  for  as  his  eyes 
rested  on  the  fragile  little  figure  and  he  realised 
what  Ferdy's  future  life  might  be,  he  could  not 
but  think  to  himself  how  happy  and  healthy  a 


188  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

thing  it  was  that  his  child  should  be  so  ready  to 
interest  himself  in  others,  instead  of  becoming  self- 
engrossed  and  discontented. 

"  We  must  see  what  Mr.  Stern  says,"  he  replied, 
"and  —  yes,  it  will  soon  be  time  for  the  other 
doctor's  visit.  It  would  be  a  long  walk  from 
Draymoor  for  the  lads." 

"  They  wouldn't  mind,"  said  Ferdy  decisively. 

"  And  now  and  then,"  said  Christine,  "  we  might 
give  them  tea  for  a  treat --once  a  month  or  so. 
Oh !  it  would  be  lovely  !  " 


CHAPTER   XII 

ANOTHER   BIRTHDAY 

AGAIN  a  spring  morning,  only  two  or  three 
years  ago.  Evercombe  and  the  Watch  House  look 
much  as  they  did  when  we  first  saw  them ;  one 
could  fancy  that  but  a  few  months  instead  of  ten 
years  had  passed  since  then.  The  swallows  are 
there,  established  in  their  summer  quarters  above 
the  oriel  window,  the  same  and  yet  not  the  same, 
though  their  chirping  voices  may,  for  all  we  know, 
be  telling  of  the  little  boy  who  for  so  long  lay  on 
his  couch  below,  and  loved  them  so  well. 

He  is  not  there  now,  nor  is  his  couch  in  its  old 
place.  Instead  of  the  small  white  face  and  eager 
blue  eyes,  there  stands  at  the  post  of  observation 
a  tall  young  girl,  a  very  pretty  girl,  with  a  bright 
flush  of  happy  expectancy  on  her  fair  face. 

"Mamma,  mamma,"  she  exclaims  to  some  one 
farther  in  the  shade  of  the  room.  "I  think  I 
hear  wheels.  Surely  it  will  be  they  this  time ! 

189 


190  THE    ORIEL   WINDOW 

If   it   isn't  I  really  shan't   have   patience   to   stand 
here  any  longer." 

But  "this  time"  her  hopes  were  fulfilled.  An- 
other moment  and  a  carriage,  which  Christine,  for 
Christine  of  course  it  was,  quickly  recognised  as 
their  own,  turned  in  at  the  lodge  gates.  And  be- 
fore those  inside  had  time  to  look  up  at  the  win- 
dow, Chrissie  had  flown  downstairs  followed  by 
her  mother. 

"  Ferdy,  Ferdy,"  she  exclaimed,  as  the  carriage- 
door  opened,  and  her  brother,  his  face  flushed  with 
pleasure  equal  to  her  own,  got  out,  slowly,  and  with 
a  little  help  from  his  father,  for  the  young  man  was 
slightly  lame,  though  his  face  told  of  health  and  fair 
strength.  He  was  sunburnt  and  manly  looking,  full 
of  life  and  happy  eagerness. 

"  Isn't  he  looking  well,  mamma  ? "  said  Chrissie, 
when  the  first  loving  greetings  had  sobered  down  a 
little. 

"  And  haven't  I  grown  ?  "  added  Ferdy,  drawing 
himself  up  for  approval.  "And  isn't  it  delightful 
that  I  managed  to  get  back  on  my  birthday  after 
all?" 

"  Yes,  indeed,  my  darling,"  said  Mrs.  Ross ;  while 


ANOTHER   BIRTHDAY  191 

his  father  gently  placed  his  hand  on  the  young 
fellow's  shoulder,  repeated  her  words  —  "yes,  in- 
deed! When  we  think  of  this  day  —  how  many 
years  ago!  Ten?  —  yes,  it  must  be  ten  —  you  were 
nine  then,  Ferdy,  how  very,  unutterably  thankful 
we  should  be  to  have  you  as  you  are." 

"  And  to  judge  by  my  looks  you  don't  know  the 
best  of  me,"  said  Ferdy.  "  I  can  walk  ever  so  far 
without  knocking  up.  But  oh  !  what  heaps  of  things 
we  have  to  talk  about ! " 

"  Come  in  to  breakfast  first,"  said  his  mother. 
"  It  is  ten  o'clock,  and  after  travelling  all  night  you 
must  be  a  little  tired." 

"  I  am  really  not,  only  very  hungry/'  said  Ferdy, 
as  he  followed  her  into  the  dining-room,  where  the 
happy  party  seated  themselves  round  the  table. 

Ferdy  had  been  away,  abroad,  for  nearly  two 
years,  both  for  study  and  for  health's  sake,  and  the 
result  was  more  than  satisfactory.  School-life  had 
been  impossible  for  him,  for  the  effect  of  his  accident 
had  been  but  very  slowly  outgrown.  Slowly  but 
surely,  however,  for  now  at  nineteen,  except  for  his 
slight  lameness,  he  was  perfectly  well,  and  able  to 
look  forward  to  a  busy  and  useful  life,  though  the 


192  THE   ORIEL    WINDOW 

exact  profession  he  was  now  to  prepare  himself  for, 
was  not  yet  quite  decided  upon.  A  busy  and  useful 
and  happy  life  it  promised  to  be,  with  abundance  of 
interests  for  his  leisure  hours.  He  was  no  genius, 
but  the  tastes  which  he  had  had  special  opportunity 
for  cultivating  through  his  boyhood,  were  not  likely 
to  fail  him  as  he  grew  up.  And  in  many  a  dull  arid 
sunless  home  would  they  help  him  to  bring  some- 
thing to  cheer  the  dreary  sameness  of  hard-working 
lives.  They  had  done  so  already,  more  than  he  as 
yet  knew. 

Breakfast  over  and  his  old  haunts  revisited,  Mrs. 
Ross  at  last  persuaded  him  and  his  sister  to  join  her 
on  the  lawn,  where  she  had  established  herself  with 
her  work  for  the  rest  of  the  morning. 

"This  is  to  be  a  real  holiday,  Ferdy,"  she  said. 
"  Chrissie  and  I  have  been  looking  forward  to  it  for 
so  long.  We  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  talk  and 
listen." 

" 1  have  heaps  to  tell,"  said  Ferdy,  "  but  even 
more  to  ask.  My  life  in  Switzerland  was  really 
awfully  jolly  in  every  way,  but  I'll  tell  you  all 
about  it  by  degrees;  besides,  I  did  write  long  let- 
ters, didn't  I?" 


ANOTHER    BIRTHDAY  193 

"  Yes,  you  did,"  said  his  mother  and  Chrissie  to- 
gether ;  "  you  have  been  very  good  about  letters  all 
the  time." 

"  Of  course,"  began  Ferdy,  after  a  moment  or  two's 
silence,  "  the  thing  I  want  to  hear  most  about  is  how 
the  classes  have  all  been  getting  on.  You  kept  me 
pretty  well  posted  up  about  them,  but  in  your  last 
letters  there  was  some  allusion  I  didn't  quite  under- 
stand —  something  that  the  Mayhews  have  been  try- 
ing to  arrange." 

Christine  glanced  at  her  mother. 

"  I  may  tell  him,  mayn't  I,  mamma  ?  Now  that  it 
is  all  settled  ?  It  is  not  only  the  Mayhews'  doing, 
but  Jesse  Piggot's  too."  And  as  Ferdy's  face  light- 
ened up  at  the  mention  of  his  friend's  name  —  "  He 
hasn't  told  you  about  it  himself,  surely  ?  "  in  a  tone 
of  some  disappointment.  "I  know  that  he  wrote 
you  long  letters  regularly,  but  I  thought  he  under- 
stood that  we  wanted  to  keep  this  new  thing  as  a 
surprise  for  you  when  you  came  back." 

Ferdy  looked  puzzled. 

"  He  hasn't  told  me  anything  special  except  about 
himself.  The  last  big  piece  of  news,  since  of  course 
it  was  all  settled  about  his  getting  that  capital  berth 


194  THE   ORIEL   WINDOW 

at  Whittingham,  that  Brock  was  so  delighted  about 
—  the  last  big  piece  of  news  was  his  getting  the 
order  for  the  carved  reredos  at  Cowlingsbury  Abbey. 
But  that  was  some  time  ago ! " 

"  Oh  yes,"  said  Christine,  "  we  have  got  over  the 
excitement  about  that.  Though  when  you  think  of 
it,"  she  went  on  thoughtfully,  "it  is  wonderful  to 
realise  how  Jesse  has  got  on." 

"And  is  going  to  get  on,"  added  Mrs.  Ross. 
"And  without  flattery,  Ferdy  dear,  we  may  say 
that  it  is  greatly,  very  greatly  owing  to  you." 

Ferdy 's  face  grew  red  with  pleasure. 

"  I  can't  quite  see  that,"  he  said.  "  Genius  must 
make  its  own  way.  But  do  tell  me  the  new 
news,  Chrissie." 

"It  is  that  Mr.  Mayhew  has  got  ground  and 
money  and  everything  for  a  sort  of,  —  we  don't 
know  what  to  call  it  yet  — '  Institute '  is  such 
an  ugly  word,  we  must  think  of  something 
prettier,  —  a  sort  of  art  college  at  Draymoor  for 
the  afternoon  and  evening  classes.  It  won't  be 
on  a  large  scale.  It  would  spoil  it  if  it  were, 
and  a  great  part  of  their  work  can  still  be  done 
at  home,  which  is  of  course  the  real  idea  of  it 


ANOTHER   BIRTHDAY  195 

all.  But  this  little  college  will  really  be  for 
teaching  what,  up  to  now,  has  had  to  be  done 
in  odd  rooms  here  and  there." 

"  Oh  !  "  Ferdy  exclaimed,  "  that  is  splendid !  " 

"  For  you  see,"  Chrissie  continued,  counting  up 
on  her  pretty  fingers  as  she  spoke,  "  what  a  lot 
of  different  kinds  of  work  we've  got  to  now. 
Wood-carving  to  begin  with  —  we  must  always 
count  it  first !  " 

"No,"  said  Ferdy,  laughing,  "strictly  speaking, 
moss  baskets  came  first." 

"  Wood-carving,"  repeated  Chrissie,  not  conde- 
scending to  notice  the  interruption.  "  Then  the 
modelling,  and  pottery  classes,  basket  work,  brass 
hammering,  and  the  iron  work,  not  to  speak  of 
the  girls'  embroidery  and  lace  work.  Yes,"  with 
a  deep  sigh  of  satisfaction,  "  it  is  time  for  a 
little  college  of  our  own." 

"A  great,  great  deal  of  it,"  said  Ferdy,  "is 
owing  to  Miss  Lilly  —  I  always  forget  to  call  her 
Mrs.  Mayhew.  If  only  she  hadn't  gone  and  got 
married  we  might  have  called  it  the  'Lily  Col- 
lege,' after  her." 

"If   she    hadn't   gone    and   got   married,    as    you 


196  THE   OKIEL   WINDOW 

elegantly  express  it,  Mr.  Mayhew  would  never, 
probably,  have  been  the  vicar  of  Draymoor,"  said 
Chrissie.  "For  it  was  through  his  being  such  a 
great  friend  of  Dr.  Lilly's  that  he  got  to  know 
the  old  squire,  who  gave  him  the  living.  And 
just  think  of  all  he  has  done  —  Mr.  Mayhew  I 
mean  —  for  Draymoor." 

Ferdy  did  not  at  once  reply.  He  gazed  up 
into  the  blue  sky  and  listened  to  the  sweet  bird- 
chatter  overhead,  with  a  look  of  great  content 
on  his  face. 

"  Yes,"  he  said,  "  things  do  turn  out  so  —  quite 
rightly  sometimes.  Just  when  you'd  have  thought 
they'd  go  wrong !  There  was  that  row  of  Jesse's 
to  begin  with,  when  he  thought  all  he  had  tried 
to  do  was  spoilt,  and  then  there  were  all  the 
difficulties  about  the  evening  classes,  while  I  was 
still  ill,  and  it  almost  seemed  as  if  we  would 
have  to  give  them  up.  And  then  —  and  then  — 
why !  when  it  was  fixed  for  me  to  go  away  two 
years  ago,  I  could  scarcely  believe  they'd  go  on, 
even  though  Mr.  Mayhew  had  come  by  that  time. 
Yes,  it's  rather  wonderful !  I  say,  Chrissie,"  with 
a  sudden  change  of  tone,  "  doesn't  it  really  sound 


ANOTHER   BIRTHDAY  197 

as  if  the  swallows  were  rather  excited  about  my 
coming  home  !  "  . 

Christine  looked  up  at  the  oriel  window  with  a 
smile. 

"I  wonder,"  she  said,  "if  possibly  any  of  them 
can  be  the  same  ones,  or  if  they  are  telling  over 
the  story  that  has  been  handed  down  from  their 
great-grandparents  —  the  story  of  the  little  white 
boy  that  used  to  lie  on  the  couch  in  the  window?  " 

This  is  not  a  completed  story,  dear  children,  as 
you  will  have  seen.  It  is  only  the  story  of  the 
beginning  of  a  life,  and  of  the  beginning  of  a  work, 
which  in  many  and  many  a  place,  besides  gloomy 
Draymoor,  started  in  the  humblest  and  smallest 
way.  If  ever,  or  wherever  any  of  you  come  across 
this  endeavour  to  brighten  and  refine  dull,  ungrace- 
ful, and  ungracious  homes,  you  will  do  your  best  to 
help  it  on,  I  feel  sure,  will  you  not? 


THE   END 


A    NEW    UNIFORM    EDITION 

OF 

MRS.  MOLESWORTH'S 

STORIES    FOR    CHILDREN 

WITH 

ILLUSTRATIONS  BY  WALTER  CRANE  AND  LESLIE  BROOKE, 


In  Ten  Volumes.     i2mo.     Cloth.     One  Dollar  a  Volume. 


-Tell  Me  a  Story,  and  Herr  Baby. 

"Carrots,"  and  A  Christmas  Child. 

Grandmother  Dear,  and  Two  Little  Waifs. 
The  Cuckoo  Clock,  and  The  Tapestry  Room. 
^-Christmas-Tree  Land,  and  A  Christmas  Posy 
The  Children  of  the  Castle,  and  Four  Winds  Farm. 

Little  Miss  Peggy,  and  Nurse  Heatherdale's  Story, 
J-'Us,"  and  The  Rectory  Children. 
-Jtosy,  and  The  Girls  and  I. 

.  -Sheila's  Mystery. 
-Carved  Lions. 


THE  SET,  TWELVE  VOLUMES,  IN  BOX,  $12.00. 

"  It  seems  to  me  not  at  all  easier  to  draw  a  lifelike  child  than  to  draw  a  lifelike  man 
or  woman :  Shakespeare  and  Webster  were  the  only  two  men  of  their  age  who  could 
do  it  with  perfect  delicacy  and  success;  at  least,  if  there  was  another  who  could,  I 
must  crave  pardon  of  his  happy  memory  for  my  forgetfulness  or  ignorance  of  his 
name.  Our  own  age  is  more  fortunate,  on  this  single  score  at  least,  having  a  larger 
and  far  nobler  proportion  of  female  writers;  among  whom,  since  the  death  of  George 
Eliot,  there  is  none  left  whose  touch  is  so  exquisite  and  masterly,  whose  love  is  so 
thoroughly  according  to  knowledge,  whose  bright  and  sweet  invention  is  so  fruitful, 
so  truthful,  or  so  delightful  as  Mrs.  Molesworth's.  Any  chapter  of  The  Cuckoo  Clock 
or  the  enchanting  A  dventu  res  of  Herr  Baby  is  worth  a  shoal  of  the  very  best  novels 
dealing  with  the  characters  and  fortunes  of  mere  adults."  —  MRS.  A.  C.  SWINBURNE, 
in  The  Nineteenth  Century. 

THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY, 

66    FIFTH    AVENUE,  NEW  YORK. 


MRS.  MOLESWORTH'S 
STORIES    FOR   CHILDREN. 


"There  is  hardly  a  better  author  to  put  into  the  hands  of  children  than  Mrs- 
Molesworth.  I  cannot  easily  speak  too  highly  of  her  work.  It  is  a  curious  art  she 
has,  not  wholly  English  in  its  spirit,  but  a  cross  of  the  old  English  with  the  Italian. 
Indeed,  I  should  say  Mrs.  Molesworth  had  also  been  a  close  student  of  the  German 
and  Russian,  and  had  some  way,  catching  and  holding  the  spirit  of  all,  created  a 
method  and  tone  quite  her  own.  .  .  .  Her  characters  are  admirable  and  real."  —  Si. 
Louis  Globe  Democrat. 

"  Mrs.  Molesworth  has  a  rare  gift  for  composing  stories  for  children.  With  a 
light,  yet  forcible  touch,  she  naints  sweet  and  artless,  yet  natural  and  strong,  charac. 
ters."  —  Congregationalist. 

"  Mrs.  Molesworth  always  has  in  her  books  those  charming  touches  of  nature: 
that  are  sure  to  charm  small  people.  Her  stories  are  so  likely  to  have  been  true  thai 
men  '  grown  up'  do  not  disdain  them."  —  Home  Journal. 

"  No  English  writer  of  childish  stories  has  a  better  reputation  than  Mrs.  Moles- 
worth,  and  none  with  whose  stories  we  are  familiar  deserves  it  better.  She  has  a> 
motherly  knowledge  of  the  child  nature,  a  clear  sense  of  character,  the  power  of 
inventing  simple  incidents  that  interest,  and  the  ease  which  comes  of  continuous, 
practice."  —  Mail  and  Express. 

"  Christmas  would  hardly  be  Christmas  without  one  of  Mrs.  Molesworth's  stories. 
No  one  has  quite  the  same  power  of  throwing  a  charm  and  an  interest  about  the 
most  commonplace  every-day  doings  as  she  has,  and  no  one  has  ever  blended  fairy- 
land and  reality  with  the  same  skill." —  Educational  Times. 

"Mrs.  Molesworth  is  justly  a  great  favorite  with  children;  her  stories  for  them 
are  always  charmingly  interesting  and  healthful  in  tone."  —  Boston  Home  Journal. 

"  Mrs.  Molesworth's  books  are  cheery,  wholesome,  and  particularly  well  adapted  to 
refined  life.  It  is  safe  to  add  that  Mrs.  Molesworth  is  the  best  English  prose  writer 
for  children.  .  .  .  Anew  volume  from  Mrs.  Molesworth  is  always  a  treat." — The 
Beacon. 

"  No  holiday  season  would  be  complete  for  a  host  of  young  readers  without  a  volume 
from  the  hand  of  Mrs.  Molesworth.  ...  It  is  one  of  the  peculiarities  of  Mrs. 
Molesworth's  stories  that  older  readers  can  no  more  escape  their  charm  than  younger 
ones."  —  Christian  Union. 

"  Mrs.  Molesworth  ranks  with  George  Macdonald  and  Mrs.  Ewing  as  a  writer  of 
children's  stories  that  possess  real  literary  merit."  —  Milwaukee  Sentinel. 


THE  SET,  ELEVEN  VOLUMES,  IN  BOX,  $11.00, 

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66    FIFTH   AVENUE,  NEW   YORK. 


TELL  ME   A   STORY,    and   HERR   BABY. 

"  So  delightful  that  we  are  inclined  to  join  in  the  petition,  and  we  hope  she  may 
soon  tell  us  more  stories."  —  Athenceum. 


"  CARROTS  ";    Just  a  Little  Boy. 

"  One  of  the  cleverest  and  most  pleasing  stories  it  has  been  our  good  fortune  to 
meet  with  for  some  time.  Carrots  and  his  sister  are  delightful  little  beings,  whom  to 
read  about  is  at  once  to  become  very  fond  of."  —  Examiner. 


A  CHRISTMAS  CHILD ;  A  Sketch  of  a  Boy's  Life. 

"  A  very  sweet  and  tenderly  drawn  sketch,  with  life  and  reality  manifest  through- 
out." —  Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

"  This  is  a  capital  story,  well  illustrated.  Mrs.  Molesworth  is  one  of  those  sunny, 
genial  writers  who  has  genius  for  writing  acceptably  for  the  young.  She  has  the 
happy  faculty  of  blending  enough  real  with  romance  to  make  her  stories  very  practi- 
cal for  good  without  robbing  them  of  any  of  their  exciting  interest."  —  Chicago  Inter- 
Ocean. 

"Mrs.  Molesworth's  A  Christmas  Child  v&  a  story  of  a  boy-life.  The  book  is  a 
small  one,  but  none  the  less  attractive.  It  is  one  of  the  best  of  this  year's  juveniles." 

—  Chicago  Tribune. 

"  Mrs.  Molesworth  is  one  of  the  few  writers  of  tales  for  children  whose  sentiment 
though  of  the  sweetest  kind  is  never  sickly  ;  whose  religious  feeling  is  never  concealed 
yet  never  obtruded  ;  whose  books  are  always  good  but  never  'goody.'  Little  Ted 
with  his  soft  heart,  clever  head,  and  brave  spirit  is  no  morbid  presentment  of  the 
angelic  child  '  too  good  to  live,'  and  who  is  certainly  a  nuisance  on  earth,  but  a 
charming  creature,  if  not  a  portrait,  whom  it  is  a  privilege  to  meet  even  in  fiction." 

—  The  Academy. 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY, 

66   FIFTH   AVENUE,  NEW  YORK. 


THE   CUCKOO   CLOCK. 

"  A  beautiful  little  story.  ...     It  will  be  read  with  delight  by  every  child  into 
whose  hands  it  is  placed."  —  Pall  Mall  Gazette. 


GRANDMOTHER   DEAR. 

"  The  author's  concern  is  with  the  development  of  character,  and  seldom  does  one 
meet  with  the  wisdom,  tact,  and  good  breeding  which  pervades  this  little  book."  — 
Nation. 


TWO   LITTLE   WAIFS. 

"  Mrs.  Molesworth's  delightful  story  of  Two  Little  Waifs  will  charm  all  the  small 
people  who  find  it  in  their  stockings.  It  relates  the  adventures  of  two  lovable  Eng- 
lish children  lost  in  Paris,  and  is  just  wonderful  enough  to  pleasantly  wring  the  youth- 
ful heart." —  New  York  Tribune. 

"  It  is,  in  its  way.  indeed,  a  little  classic,  of  which  the  real  beauty  and  pathos  can 
hardly  be  appreciated  by  young  people.  ...  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  of  the  story 
that  it  is  perfect  of  its  kind."  —  Critic  and  Good  Literature. 

"  Mrs.  Molesworth  is  such  a  bright,  cheery  writer,  that  her  stories  are  always 
acceptable  to  all  who  are  not  confirmed  cynics,  and  her  record  of  the  adventures  of 
the  little  waifs  is  as  entertaining  and  enjoyable  as  we  might  expect."  —  Boston 
Courier. 

"  Two  Little  Waifs  by  Mrs.  Molesworth  is  a  pretty  little  fancy,  relating  the  adven- 
tures of  a  pair  of  lost  children,  in  a  style  full  of  simple  charm.  It  is  among  the  very 
daintiest  of  juvenile  books  that  the  season  has  yet  called  forth  ;  and  its  pathos  and 
humor  are  equally  delightful.  The  refined  tone  and  the  tender  sympathy  with  the 
feelings  and  sentiments  of  childhood,  lend  it  a  special  and  an  abiding  charm."  —  Bos- 
ton Saturday  Evening  Gazette. 

"This  is  a  charming  little  juvenile  story  from  the  pen  of  Mrs.  Molesworth, 
detailing  the  various  adventures  of  a  couple  of  motherless  children  in  searching  for 
their  father,  whom  they  had  missed  in  Paris  where  they  had  gone  to  meet  him."  — 
Montreal  Star. 

"  Mrs.  Molesworth  is  a  popular  name,  not  only  with  a  host  of  English,  but  with  a 
considerable  army  of  young  American  readers,  who  have  been  charmed  by  her  deli- 
cate fancy  and  won  by  the  interest  of  her  style.  Two  Little  Waifs,  illustrated  by 
Walter  Crane,  is  a  delightful  story,  which  comes,  as  all  children's  stories  ought  to  do, 
to  a  delightful  end."  —  Christian  Union. 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY, 

66    FIFTH   AVENUE,  NEW   YORK. 


THE   TAPESTRY   ROOM. 

"Mrs.  Molesworth  is  the  queen  of  children's  fairy-land.  She  knows  how  to  make 
use  of  the  vague,  fresh,  wondering  instincts  of  childhood,  and  to  invest  familiar 
things  with  fairy  glamour."  —  Atfienteum. 

"  The  story  told  is  a  charming  one  of  what  may  be  called  the  neo-fairy  sort.  .  .  . 
There  has  been  nothing  better  of  its  kind  done  anywhere  for  children,  whether  we 
consider  its  capacity  to  awake  interest  or  its  wholesomeness."  —  Evening  Post. 

"  Among  the  books  for  young  people  we  have  seen  nothing  more  unique  than  The 
Tapestry  Room.  Like  all  of  Mrs.  Molesworth's  stories  it  will  please  young  readers 
by  the  very  attractive  and  charming  style  in  which  it  is  written."  —  Presbyterian 
Joiirnal. 

"  Mrs.  Molesworth  will  be  remembered  as  a  writer  of  very  pleasing  stories  for 
children.  A  new  book  from  her  pen  will  be  sure  of  a  welcome  from  all  the  young 
people.  The  new  story  bears  the  name  of  The  Tapestry  Room  and  is  a  child's 
romance.  .  .  .  The  child  who  comes  into  possession  of  the  story  will  count  himself 
fortunate.  It  is  a  bright,  wholesome  story,  in  which  the  interest  is  maintained  to 
the  end.  The  author  has  the  faculty  of  adapting  herself  to  the  tastes  and  ideas  of 
her  readers  in  an  unusual  way."  —  JVeiv  Haven  Paladium. 


CHRISTMAS-TREE   LAND. 

"  It  is  conceived  after  a  happy  fancy,  as  it  relates  the  supposititious  journey  of  a 
party  of  little  ones  through  that  part  of  fairy-land  where  Christmas-trees  are  sup- 
posed to  most  abound.  There  is  just  enough  of  the  old-fashioned  fancy  about  fairies 
mingled  with  the  '  modern  improvements '  to  incite  and  stimulate  the  youthful 
imagination  to  healthful  action.  The  pictures  by  Walter  Crane  are,  of  course,  not 
only  well  executed  in  themselves,  but  in  charming  consonance  with  the  spirit  of  the 
tale."  —  Troy  Times. 

"  Christmas-Tree  Land,  by  Mrs.  Molesworth,  is  a  book  to  make  younger  readers 
open  their  eyes  wide  with  delight.  A  little  boy  and  a  little  girl  domiciled  in  a  great 
white  castle,  wander  on  their  holidays  through  the  surrounding  fir-forests,  and  meet 
with  the  most  delightful  pleasures.  There  is  a  fascinating,  mysterious  character  in 
their  adventures  and  enough  of  the  fairy-like  and  wonderful  to  puzzle  and  enchant  all 
the  little  ones."  —  Boston  Home  Journal. 


A   CHRISTMAS   POSY. 

"  This  is  a  collection  of  eight  of  those  inimitable  stories  for  children  which  none 
could  write  better  than  Mrs.  Molesworth.  Her  books  are  prime  favorites  with 
children  of  all  ages  and  they  are  as  good  and  wholesome  as  they  are  interesting  and 
popular.  This  makes  a  very  handsome  book,  and  its  illustrations  are  excellent."  — 
Christian  at  Work. 

"  A  Christmas  Posy  is  one  of  those  charming  stories  for  girls  which  Mrs  Moles- 
worth  excels  in  writing."  —  Philadelphia  Press. 

"  Here  is  a  group  of  bright,  wholesome  stories,  such  as  are  dear  to  children,  and 
nicely  tuned  to  the  harmonies  of  Christmas-tide.  Mr.  Crane  has  found  good  situ- 
ations for  his  spirited  sketches." — Churchman. 

"  A  Christmas  Posy,  by  Mrs.  Molesworth,  is  lovely  and  fragrant.  Mrs.  Moles- 
worth  succeeds  by  right  to  the  place  occupied  with  so  much  honor  by  the  late  Mrs. 
Ewing,  as  a  writer  of  charming  stories  for  children.  The  present  volume  is  a  cluster 
of  delightful  short  stories.  Mr.  Crane's  illustrations  are  in  harmony  with  the  text." 
—  Christian  Intelligencer. 

THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY, 

66    FIFTH   AVENUE,  NEW   YORK. 


THE    CHILDREN   OF   THE   CASTLE. 

"  The  Children  of  the  Castle^,  by  Mrs.  Molesworth,  is  another  of  those  delightful 
juvenile  stories  of  which  this  author  has  written  so  many.  It  is  a  fascinating  little 
book,  with  a  charming  plot,  a  sweet,  pure  atmosphere,  and  teaches  a  wholesome 
moral  in  the  most  winning  manner."  —  B,  S.  E.  Gazette. 

"  Mrs.  Molesworth  has  given  a  charming  story  for  children.  ...  It  is  a  whole- 
some book,  one  which  the  little  ones  will  read  with  interest."  —  Living  Church. 

"  The  Children  of  the  Castle  are  delightful  creations,  actual  little  girls,  living  in 
an  actual  castle,  but  often  led  by  their  fancies  into  a  shadowy  fairy-land.  There  is  a 
charming  refinement  of  style  and  spirit  about  the  story  from  beginning  to  end;  an 
imaginative  child  will  find  endless  pleasure  in  it,  and  the  lesson  of  gentleness  and 
unselfishness  so  artistically  managed  that  it  does  not  seem  like  a  lesson,  but  only  a 
part  of  the  story."  —  Milwaukee  Sentinel. 

"  Mrs.  Molesworth's  stories  for  children  are  always  ingenious,  entertaining,  and 
thoroughly  wholesome.  Her  resources  are  apparently  inexhaustible,  and  each  nevr 
book  from  her  pen  seems  to  surpass  its  predecessors  in  attractiveness.  In  The  Chil- 
dren of  the  Castle  the  best  elements  of  a  good  story  for  children  are  very  happily 
combined."  —  The  Week, 


FOUR   WINDS   FARM. 

"Mrs.  Molesworth's  books  are  always  delightful,  but  of  all  none  is  more  charm- 
ing than  the  volume  with  which  she  greets  the  holidays  this  season.  Four  Winds 
Farm  is  one  of  the  most  delicate  and  pleasing  books  for  a  child  that  has  seen  trie 
light  this  many  a  day.  It  is  full  of  fancy  and  of  that  instinctive  sympathy  with  child- 
hood which  makes  this  author's  books  so  attractive  and  so  individual."  —  Boston 
Courier. 

"  Like  all  the  books  srie  has  written  this  one  is  very  charming,  and  is  worth 
more  in  the  hands  of  a  child  than  a  score  of  other  stories  of  a  more  sensational  char- 
acter."—  Christian  at  Work. 

"  Still  more  delicately  fanciful  is  Mrs.  Molesworth's  lovely  little  tale  of  the  Four 
Winds  Farm.  It  is  neither  a  dream  nor  a  fairy  story,  but  concerns  the  fortune  of  a 
real  little  boy,  named  Gratian ;  yet  the  dream  and  the  fairy  tale  seem  to  enter  into 
his  life,  and  make  part  of  it.  The  farm-house  in  which  the  child  lives  is  set  exactly 
at  the  meeting-place  of  the  four  winds,  and  they,  from  the  moment  of  his  birth,  have 
acted  as  his  self-elected  godmothers.  .  .  .  All  the  winds  love  the  boy,  and,  held  in 
the  balance  of  their  influence,  he  grows  up  as  a  boy  should,  simply  and  truly,  with 
a  tender  heart  and  firm  mind.  The  idea  of  this  little  book  is  essentially  poetical."  — 
Literary  World. 

"  This  book  is  for  the  children.  We  grudge  it  to  them.  There  are  few  children 
in  this  generation  good  enough  for  such  a  gift.  Mrs.  Molesworth  is  the  only  woman 
now  who  can  write  such  a  book.  .  .  .  The  delicate  welding  of  the  farm  life  about 
the  child  and  the  spiritual  life  within  him,  and  the  realization  of  the  four  immortals 
into  a  delightful  sort  of  half-femininity  shows  a  finer  literary  quality  than  anything 
we  have  seen  for  a  long  time.  The  light  that  never  was  on  sea  or  land  is  in  this 
little  red  and  gold  volume."  —  Philadelphia  Press. 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY, 

66    FIFTH   AVENUE,  NEW   YORK. 


NURSE   HEATHERDALE'S   STORY. 

"  Nurse  Heatherdale's  Story  is  all  about  a  small  boy,  who  was  good  enough,  yet 
was  always  getting  into  some  trouble  through  complications  in  which  he  was  not  to 
blame.  The  same  sort  of  things  happens  to  men  and  women.  _  He  is  an  orphan, 
though  he  is  cared  for  in  a  way  by  relations,  who  are  not  so  very  rich,  yet  are  looked 
on  as  well  fixed.  After  many  youthful  trials  and  disappointments  he  falls  into  a  big 
stroke  of  good  luck,  which  lifts  him  and  goes  to  make  others  happy.  Those  who 
want  a  child's  book  will  find  nothing  to  harm  and  something  to  interest  in  this  simple 
story." —  Commercial  Advertiser. 


"US." 

"  Mrs.  Molesworth's  Us,  an  Old-Fashioned  Story,  is  very  charming.  A  dear 
little  six-year-old  '  bruvver '  and  sister  constitute  the  '  us,'  whose  adventures  with 
gypsies  form  the  theme  of  the  story.  Mrs.  Molesworth's  style  is  graceful,  and  she 
pictures  the  little  ones  with  brightness  and  tenderness."  —  Evening  Post. 

"  A  pretty  and  wholesome  story."  —  Literary  World. 

"  Us,  an  Old-Fashioned  Story,  is  a  sweet  and  quaint  story  of  two  little  children 
who  lived  long  ago,  in  an  old-fashioned  way,  with  their  grandparents.  The  story  is 
delightfully  told."  —  Philadelphia  News. 

"  Us  is  one  of  Mrs.  Molesworth's  charming  little  stories  for  young  children.  The 
narrative  ...  is  full  of  interest  for  its  real  grace  and  delicacy,  and  the  exquisiteness 
and  purity  of  the  English  in  which  it  is  written."  —  Boston  Advertiser. 

"  Mrs.  Molesworth's  last  story,  Us,  will  please  the  readers  of  that  lady's  works  by 
its  pleasant  domestic  atmosphere  and  healthful  moral  tone.  The  narrative  moves 
forward  with  sufficient  interest  to  hold  the  reader's  attention;  and  there  are  useful 
lessons  for  young  people  to  be  drawn  from  it."  —  Independent. 

"...  Mrs.  Molesworth's  story  ...  is  very  simple,  refined,  bright,  and  full  of 
the  real  flavor  of  childhood."  —  Literary  World. 


THE   RECTORY   CHILDREN. 

"  It  is  a  book  written  for  children  in  just  the  way  that  is  best  adapted  to  please 

them."  —  Morning  Post. 

"  In  The  Rectory  Children  Mrs.  Molesworth  has  written  one  of  those  delightful 
volumes  which  we  always  look  for  at  Christmas  time."  —  Athenaum. 

"A  delightful  Christmas  book  for  children;  a  racy,  charming  home  story,  full  of 
good  impulses  and  bright  suggestions."  —  Boston  Traveller. 

"Quiet,  sunny,  interesting,  and  thoroughly  winning  and  wholesome."  —  Boston 
Journal. 

"  There  is  no  writer  of  children's  books  more  worthy  of  their  admiration  and  love 
than  Mrs.  Molesworth.  Her  bright  and  sweet  invention  is  so  truthful,  her  char- 
acters so  faithfully  drawn,  and  the  teaching  of  her  stories  so  tender  and  noble,  that 
while  they  please  and  charm  they  insensibly  distil  into  the  youthful  mind  the  most 
valuable  lessons.  In  The  Rectory  Children  we  have  a  fresh,  bright  story,  that 
will  be  sure  to  please  all  her  young  admirers."  —  Christian  at  Work. 

"  The  Rectory  Children,  by  Mrs.  Molesworth,  is  a  very  pretty  story  of  English 
life.  Mrs.  Molesworth  is  one  of  the  most  popular  and  charming  of  English  story- 
writers  for  children.  Her  child  characters  are  true  to  life,  always  natural  and 
attractive,  and  her  stories  are  wholesome  and  interesting."  —  Indianapolis  Journal. 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY, 

66    FIFTH   AVENUE,  NEW  YORK. 


ROSY. 

"  Rosy,  like  all  the  rest  of  her  stories,  is  bright  and  pure  and  utterly  free  from  cant, 
—  a  book  that  children  will  read  with  pleasure  and  lasting  profit."  —  Boston  Trav- 
eller. 

"  There  is  no  one  who  has  a  genius  better  adapted  for  entertaining  children  than 
Mrs.  Molesworth,  and  her  latest  story,  Rosy,  is  one  of  her  best.  It  is  illustrated  with 
eight  woodcuts  from  designs  by  Walter  Crane."  —  Philadelphia  Press. 

"  An  English  story  for  children  of  the  every-day  life  of  a  bright  little  girl,  which 
will  please  those  who  like  '  natural '  books."  —  New  York  World. 

"...  Mrs.  Molesworth's  clever  Rosy,  a  story  showing  in  a  charming  way  how 
one  little  girl's  jealousy  and  bad  temper  were  conquered;  one  of  the  best,  most 
suggestive  and  improving  of  the  Christmas  juveniles."  —  New  York  Tribune. 

"  Rosy  is  an  exceedingly  graceful  and  interesting  story  by  Mrs.  Molesworth,  one 
of  the  best  and  most  popular  writers  of  juvenile  fiction.  This  little  story  is  full  oi 
tenderness,  is  fragrant  in  sentiment,  and  points  with  great  delicacy  and  genuine  feel- 
ing a  charming  moral."  —  Boston  Gazette. 


THE   GIRLS   AND   I. 

"  Perhaps  the  most  striking  feature  of  this  pleasant  story  is  the  natural  manner  in 
which  it  is  written.  It  is  just  like  the  conversation  of  a  bright  boy  —  consistently 
like  it  from  beginning  to  end.  It  is  a  boy  who  is  the  hero  of  the  tale,  and  he  tells  the 
adventures  of  himself  and  those  nearest  him.  He  is,  by  the  way,  in  many  respects 
an  example  for  most  young  persons.  It  is  a  story  characterized  by  sweetness  and 
purity  —  a  desirable  one  to  put  into  the  hands  of  youthful  readers." — Gettysburg 
Monthly. 

"  Jack  himself  tells  the  story  of  The  Girls  and  I,  assisted  of  course  by  Mrs.  Moles- 
worth,  whose  name  will  recall  to  the  juveniles  pleasant  memories  of  interesting  read- 
ing, full  of  just  the  things  that  children  want  to  know,  and  of  that  which  will  excite 
their  ready  sympathies.  Jack,  while  telling  the  story  of  the  girls,  takes  the  readers 
into  his  own  confidence,  and  we  like  the  little  fellow  rather  better  than  the  girls.  The 
interest  is  maintained  by  the  story  of  a  lost  jewel,  the  ultimate  finding  of  which,  in 
the  most  unexpected  place,  closes  the  story  in  a  very  pleasant  manner.  Jack,  other- 
wise Mrs.  Molesworth,  tells  the  tale  in  a  lively  style,  and  the  book  will  attract  atten- 
tion."— The  Globe. 

"...  A  delightful  and  purposeful  story  which  no  one  can  read  without  being 
benefited."  —  New  York  Observer. 


MARY. 

"  Mrs.  Molesworth's  reputation  as  a  writer  of  story-books  is  so  well  established 
that  any  new  book  of  hers  scarce  needs  a  word  of  introduction."  —  Home  Journal. 


THE    MACMILLAN   COMPANY, 

66   FIFTH   AVENUE,  NEW  YORK. 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY'S 

CATALOGUE 

OF 

BOOKS   FOR  THE  YOUNG. 


Messrs.  MACMILLAN  &  CO.  are  the  agents  in  the  United 
States  for  the  publications  of  the  Oxford  and  Cambridge  Univer- 
sity Presses,  and  for  Messrs.  George  Bell  &*  Sons,  London. 
Complete  catalogues  of  all  books  sold  by  them  will  be  sent,  free 
by  mail,  to  any  address  on  application. 


ADVENTURE    SERIES,   THE.      Large  i2mo.      Fully  Illus- 
trated.    $1.50  each  volume. 

Adventures  of  a  Younger  Son.  By  JOHN  EDWARD  TRE- 
LAWNY.  With  an  Introduction  by  EDWARD  GARNETT. 

Madagascar ;  or,  Robert  Drury's  Journal  During  Fifteen 
Years'  Captivity  on  that  Island,  and  a  Further  Descrip- 
tion of  Madagascar  by  the  Abbe  ALEXIS  ROCHON.  Edited, 
with  an  Introduction  and  Notes,  by  Captain  S.  PASFIELD 
OLIVER,  F.S.A.,  author  of  "  Madagascar." 

Memoirs  of  the  Extraordinary  Military  Career  of  John 
Shipp,  Late  Lieutenant  in  His  Majesty's  S/th  Regiment. 
Written  by  Himself.  With  an  Introduction  by  Major 
H.  M.  CHICHESTER. 

The  Adventures  of  Thomas  Fellow,  of  Penryn,  Mariner, 
Twenty-three  Years  in  Captivity  among  the  Moors.  Writ- 
ten by  Himself;  and  Edited,  with  an  Introduction  and 
Notes,  by  Dr.  ROBERT  BROWN.  Illustrated  from  Con- 
temporaneous Prints. 


MACMILLAN  6-    COSS 


The  Buccaneers  and  Marooners  of  America.  Being  an 
Account  of  the  Famous  Adventures  and  Daring  Deeds 
of  Certain  Notorious  Freebooters  of  the  Spanish  Main. 
Edited  and  Illustrated  by  HOWARD  PYLE. 

The  Log  of  a  Jack  Tar;  or,  The  Life  of  James  Choyce, 
Master  Mariner.  Now  first  published,  with  O'Brien's 
Captivity  in  France.  Edited  by  Commander  V.  LOVETT 
CAMERON,  R.N.,  C.B.,  D.C.L.  With  Introduction  and 
Notes. 

The  Story  of  the  Filibusters.  By  JAMES  JEFFREY  ROCHE. 
To  which  is  added  "  The  Life  of  Colonel  David  Crockett.1' 
With  Illustrations. 

"  Mr.  Roche  has  faithfully  compared  and  sifted  the  statements  of  those 
who  took  part  in  the  various  expeditions,  and  he  has  also  made  effectual 
use  of  periodicals  and  official  documents.  The  result  is  what  may  safely 
be  regarded  as  the  first  complete  and  authentic  account  of  the  deeds  of  the 
modern  Vikings,  who  continue  to  be  wonderfully  romantic  figures  even 
after  the  gaudy  trappings  of  myth,  prejudice,  and  fiction  have  been  stripped 
away." — Boston  Beacon. 

The  Voyages  and  Adventures  of  Ferdinand  Mendez  Pinto, 
the  Portuguese.     Done  into  English  by  HENRY  COGAN, 
with  an  Introduction  by  ARMINIUS  VAMB£RY. 
"  It  is  decidedly  reading  of  the  most  attractive  kind,  brimful  of  adven- 
ture piquantly  related,  and  of  rare  interest  in  its  recital  of  the  experiences 
of  the  author,  who  'five  times  suffered  shipwreck,  was  sixteen  times  sold, 
and  thirteen  times  made  a  slave.'  "  —  Boston  Saturday  Evening  Gazette. 

A  Master  Mariner.  Being  the  Life  and  Adventures  of  Cap- 
tain Robert  William  Eastwick.  Edited  by  HERBERT 
COMPTON.  With  Illustrations. 

Hard  Life  in  the  Colonies,  and  Other  Adventures  by  Sea 
and  Land.  Now  first  printed.  Compiled  from  Private 
Letters  by  C.  CASLYON  JENKYNS.  With  Illustrations. 
Large  I2mo.  $1.50. 

JESOP'S  FABLES.     Illustrated.     50  cents. 

ANDERSEN  (HANS  CHRISTIAN).  Fairy  Tales  and  Sketches. 
Translated  by  C.  C.  PEACHY,  H.  WARD,  A.  PLESNER, 
etc.  With  numerous  Illustrations  by  OTTO  SPECKTER 
and  others.  Seventh  thousand.  Handsomely  bound.  I2mo. 
$1.50. 

"  The  translation  most  happily  hits  the  delicate  quaintness  of  Andersen  — 
most  happily  transposes  into  simple  English  words  the  tender  precision  of 
the  famous  story-teller ;  in  a  keen  examination  of  the  book  we  scarcely  re- 
call a  single  phrase  or  turn  that  obviously  could  have  been  bettered."  — 
Daily  Telegraph. 


BOOKS  FOR    THE   YOUNG. 


Tales  for  Children.  With  48  Full-page  Illustrations  by 
WEHNERT,  and  57  small  Engravings  on  wood  by  W. 
THOMAS.  Thirteenth  thousand.  Handsomely  bound. 
I2mo.  $1.50. 

This  volume  contains  several  tales  that  are  in  no  other  edition 
published  in  this  country,  and  with  the  preceding  volume  it  forms 
the  most  complete  English  edition. 

ARIOSTO.     Paladin  and  Saracen.     Stories  from  Ariosto.     By 
W.  C.  HOLLWAY-CALTHROP.    With  Illustrations.    $1.50. 

ATKINSON.    The  Last  of  the  Giant  Killers.    By  the  Rev.  J. 

C.  ATKINSON,  author  of  "A  Moorland  Parish."    Shortly. 

AWDRY  (F.).     The  Story  of  a  Fellow  Soldier.     A  Life  of 
Bishop  Patteson  for  the  Young.     i6mo.     $1.00. 

BAKER.  Wild  Beasts  and  Their  Ways.  Reminiscences  in 
Asia,  Africa,  and  America.  By  Sir  SAMUEL  W.  BAKER, 
F.R.S.,  etc.,  author  of  "Albert  Nyanza,"  etc.  With  numer- 
ous Illustrations.  Large  1 2 mo.  Cloth  extra.  Gilt.  $3.50. 
"  A  book  which  is  destined  not  only  to  serve  as  a  chart  and  compass 

ibr  every  hunter  of  big  game,  but  which  is  likewise  a  valuable  study  of 

natural  history,  placed  before  the  public  in  a  practical  and  interesting  form." 

—  New  York  Tribune. 

BEESLY  (Mrs.).    Stories  from  the  History  of  Rome.     i6mo. 

60  cents. 

"  Of  all  the  stories  we  remember  from  history  none  have  struck  us 
as  so  genuinely  good  —  with  the  right  ring  —  as  those  of  Mrs.  Beesly."  — 
Educational  Times. 

BERTZ  (E.).      The  French  Prisoners :    A  Story  for  Boys. 

$1.25. 

"  Written  throughout  in  a  wise  and  gentle  spirit,  and  omits  no  oppor- 
tunity to  deprecate  war  as  a  barbaric  survival,  wholly  unnecessary  in  a 
civilized  age."  —  Independent. 

"  The  story  is  an  extremely  interesting  one,  full  of  incident,  told  in  a 
quiet,  healthful  way,  and  with  a  great  deal  of  pleasantly  interfused  informa- 
tion about  German  and  French  boys."  —  Christian  Union. 

BUNCE  (J.  T.).    Fairy  Tales:   Their  Origin  and   Meaning. 
i6mo.    75  cents. 

CARPENTER.   Truth  in  Tale.    Addresses  Chiefly  to  Children. 

By  W.  BOYD  CARPENTER,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Ripon.   $1.00. 

"  These  ingenious  and  interesting  tales  by  Bishop  Carpenter  are  full  of 

poetic  beauty  and  of  religious  truth.  -.  .  .  We  would  like  to  see  a  copy  in 

every  Sunday-school  library."  —  Sunday  School  Banner. 


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CARROLL.    WORKS  BY  LEWIS  CARROLL. 

Alice's  Adventures  in  Wonderland.  With  42  Illustrations 
by  TENNIEL.  i2mo.  $1.00. 

A  German  Translation.     I2mo.     $2.00. 
A  French  Translation.     i2mo.     $2.00. 

An  Italian  Translation.     I2mo.     $2.00. 
"An  excellent  piece  of  nonsense." —  Times. 
"That  most  delightful  of  children's  stories."  —  Saturday  Review. 
"  Elegant  and  delicious  nonsense."  —  Guardian. 

Through  the  Looking-glass  and  What  Alice  Found  There. 

50  Illustrations  by  TENNIEL.     i2mo.     $1.00. 

"Will  fairly  rank  with  the  tale  of  her  previous  experience."  —  Daily 
Telegraph. 

"  Many  of  Mr.  Tenniel's  designs  are  masterpieces  of  wise  absurdity." 
—  Athenceum. 

"  Whether  as  regarding  author  or  illustrator,  this  book  is  a  jewel  rarely 
to  be  found  nowadays."  —  Echo. 

Alice's  Adventures  in  Wonderland  and  Through  the  Look- 
ing Glass.  In  i  vol.  With  TENNIEL'S  Illustrations.  i2mo. 

$1.25. 

Rhyme  ?  and  Reason  ?  With  65  Illustrations  by  ARTHUR 
B.  FROST,  and  nine  by  HENRY  HOLIDAY.  i2mo.  $1.50. 

This  book  is  a  reprint,  with  additions,  of  the  comic  portions 
of  "Phantasmagoria,  and  other  Poems,"  and  of  the  "Hunting 
of  the  Snark." 

A  Tangled  Tale.  Reprinted  from  the  "Monthly  Packet." 
With  Illustrations.  I2mo.  $1.50. 

Alice's  Adventures  under  Ground.  Being  a  Fac-simile  of  the 

original    MS.  Book    afterward  developed    into    "Alice's 

Adventures    in    Wonderland."  With    37    Illustrations. 
I2mo.     $1.50. 

The  Hunting  of  the  Snark :  An  Agony  in  Eight  Fits.  By 
LEWIS  CARROLL.  With  nine  Illustrations  by  HENRY 
HOLIDAY.  New  Edition.  i2mo.  $1.00. 

Sylvie  and  Bruno.  With  46  Illustrations  by  HARRY  FUR- 
NISS.  i2mo.  $1.50. 

"  Alice  was  a  delightful  little  girl,  but  hardly  more  pleasing  than  are 
the  hero  and  heroine  of  this  latest  book  from  a  writer  in  whose  nonsense 
there  is  far  more  sense  than  in  the  serious  works  of  many  contemporary 
authors."  —  Morning  Post. 

"  Mr.  Furniss's  illustrations,  which  are  numerous,  are  at  once  graceful 


BOOKS  FOR  THE   YOUNG. 


and  full  of  humor.  We  pay  him  a  high  compliment  when  we  say  he 
proves  himself  a  worthy  successor  to  Mr.  Tenniel  in  illustrating  Mr.  Lewis 
Carroll's  books."  — St.  James'  Gazette. 

The  Nursery  "Alice."  Containing  20  coloured  enlarge- 
ments from  TENNIEL'S  Illustrations  to  "  Alice's  Adven- 
tures in  Wonderland,"  with  Text  adapted  to  Nursery 
Readers,  by  LEWIS  CARROLL.  4to.  $1.50. 

"  Let  the  little  people  rejoice !  the  most  charming  book  in  the  world  has 
appeared  for  them.  '  The  Nursery  Alice,'  with  its  wealth  of  colored  illus- 
trations from  Tenniel's  Pictures,  is  certainly  the  most  artistic  juvenile  that 
has  been  seen  for  many  and  many  a  day."  —  Boston  Budget. 

CHURCH.    WORKS  BY  THE  REV.  A.  J.  CHURCH. 

The  Story  of  the  Iliad.    With  Coloured  Illustrations.   i2mo. 

$1.00. 
The  Story  of  the  Odyssey.     With  Coloured  Illustrations. 

i2mo.     $1.00. 
Stories   from   the   Bible.     With   Illustrations   after  JULIUS 

SCHNORR.     i2mo.     $1.50. 

"Of  all  the  books  of  this  kind,  this  is  the  best  we  have  seen."  — 
Examiner. 

"  The  book  will  be  of  infinite  value  to  the  student  or  teacher  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  the  stories  are  well  arranged  for  interesting  reading  fjr 
children."  —  Boston  Traveller. 

Stories  from  Bible.     Illustrated.     Second  Series.     Shortly. 

The  Greek  Gulliver.  Stories  from  Lucian.  With  Illustra- 
tions by  C.  O.  MURRAY.  New  edition.  i6mo.  Paper. 
40  cents. 

"A  curious  example  of  ancient  humor." —  Chicago  Standard. 

The  Burning  of  Rome.  A  Story  of  the  Times  of  Nero. 
With  Illustrations.  I2mo.  $1.00. 

CLIFFORD  (Mrs.  W.  K.).    Anyhow  Stories,  Moral  and  Other- 
wise.    With  Illustrations.    $1.00. 

CRAIK.    WORKS  BY  MRS.  CRAIK,  author  of  "John  Halifax, 
Gentleman." 

Sermons  out  of  Church.    New  Edition.    i2mo.    $1.75. 
Children's  Poetry.    Globe  8vo.    $1.25. 

The   Little    Lame   Prince  and  His  Travelling  Cloak.     A 

Parable  for  Young  and  Old.    With  Illustrations.     I2mo. 

$1.25. 

Little  Sunshine's  Holiday.    Globe  8vo.    $1.00. 


MACMILLAN  <Sr»    CO.'S 


Adventures  of  a  Brownie.   With  Illustrations.    i6mo.   $1.00. 

Alice  Learmont.    A  Fairy  Tale.    With  Illustrations.    i6mo. 
$1.00. 

Our  Year :  a  Child's  Book.     Illustrated.     i6mo.    $1.00. 

The  Fairy  Book.    The  Best  Popular  Fairy  Stories.    Selected 
and  rendered  anew.   Golden  Treasury  Series.  i8mo.  $1.25. 

DEFOE.  The  Adventures  of  Robinson  Crusoe.  Edited  from 
the  Original  Edition  by  HENRY  KINGSLEY.  Globe  Edition. 

$1.25. 

Golden  Treasury  Series.     1 8  mo .     $  i .  oo . 

DE  MORGAN.  The  Necklace  of  Princess  Florimonde,  and 
other  Stories.  By  MARY  DE  MORGAN.  Illustrated  by 
WALTER  CRANE.  New  and  cheaper  Edition,  cloth  extra. 
$1.25. 

"  The  stories  display  considerable  originality,  and  Mr.  Walter  Crane's 
characteristic  illustrations  combine  with  Miss  De  Morgan's  pretty  fancies 
in  forming  a  charming  gift-book."  —  Graphic. 
"  A  real  gem."  —  Punch. 

ENGLISH  MEN  OF  ACTION  SERIES.  i2mo.  Cloth,  limp, 
60  cents  ;  cloth,  uncut  edges,  75  cents. 

"  An  admirable  set  of  brief  biographies.  .  .  .  The  volumes  are  small, 
attractive,  and  inexpensive."  —  Dial. 

"  The  '  English  Men  of  Action '  promises  to  be  a  notable  series  of  short 
biographies.  The  subjects  are  well  chosen,  and  the  authors  almost  as  well." 
—  Epoch. 

Gordon.     By  Col.  Sir  W.  BUTLER. 

Henry  the  Fifth.     By  the  Rev.  A.  J.  CHURCH. 

Livingstone.     By  THOMAS  HUGHES. 

Lord  Lawrence.     By  Sir  R.  TEMPLE. 

Wellington.     By  GEORGE  HOOPER. 

Dampier.     By  W.  CLARK  RUSSELL. 

Monk.     By  JULIAN  CORBETT. 

Strafford.     By  H.  D.  TRAILL. 

Warren  Hastings.     By  Sir  ALFRED  LYALL,  K.C.B. 

Peterborough.     By  WILLIAM  STEBBING. 

Captain  Cook.     By  WALTER  BESANT. 

Havelock.     By  ARCHIBALD  FORBES. 


BOOKS  FOR  THE   YOUNG. 


Clive.     By  Col.  Sir  CHARLES  WILSON. 

Drake.     By  JULIAN  CORBETT. 

Warwick,  the  King  Maker.    By  C.  W.  OMAN. 

Napier.     By  Col.  Sir  WILLIAM  BUTLER. 

Rodney.     By  D.  G.  HANNAY. 

Montrose.    By  MOWBRAY  MORRIS.    Shortly. 

EWING  (J.  H.).  We  and  the  World.  A  Story  for  Boys.  By 
the  late  JULIANA  HORATIO  EWING.  With  seven  Illustra- 
tions by  W.  L.  Jones,  and  a  Pictorial  Design  on  the  Cover. 
4th  Edition.  I2mo.  $1.00. 

Cheap    Illustrated   Edition.     4to.     In  paper  boards, 
35  cents. 

"  A  very  good  book  it  is,  full  of  adventure  graphically  told.  The  style 
is  just  what  it  should  be;  simple  but  not  bold,  full  of  pleasant  humor,  and 
with  some  pretty  touches  of  feeling.  Like  all  Mrs.  Ewing's  tales,  it  is 
sound,  sensible,  and  wholesome." —  Times. 

A  Flat  Iron  for  a  Farthing ;  or,  Some  Passages  in  the  Life 
of  an  Only  Son.  With  12  Illustrations  by  H.  ALLING- 
HAM,  and  Pictorial  Design  on  the  Cover.  i6th  Edition. 
I2mo.  $1.00. 

Cheap    Illustrated   Edition.     4to.     In  paper  boards, 
35  cents. 

"  Let  every  parent  and  guardian  who  wishes  to  be  amused,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  please  a  child,  purchase  '  A  Flat  Iron  for  a  Farthing ;  or, 
Some  Passages  in  the  Life  of  an  Only  Son,'  by  J.  H.  Ewing.  We  will 
answer  for  the  delight  with  which  they  will  read  it  themselves,  and  we  do 
not  doubt  that  the  young  and  fortunate  recipients  will  also  like  it.  The 
story  is  quaint,  original,  and  altogether  delightful."  — Athenceum. 

Mrs.  Overtheway's  Remembrances.  Illustrated  with  nine 
fine  full-page  Engravings  by  PASQUIER,  and  Frontispiece  by 
WOLF,  and  Pictorial  Design  on  the  Cover.  4th  Edition. 
I2mo.  $1.00. 

Cheap   Illustrated   Edition.     4to.     In   paper  boards, 
35  cents. 

"  It  is  not  often  nowadays  the  privilege  of  a  critic  to  grow  enthusiastic 
over  a  new  work ;  and  the  rarity  of  the  occasion  that  calls  forth  the  delight 
is  apt  to  lead  one  into  the  sin  of  hyperbole.  And  yet  we  think  we  shall  not 
be  accused  of  extravagance  when  we  say  that,  without  exception,  '  Mrs. 
Overtheway's  Remembrances  '  is  the  most  delightful  work  avowedly  written 
for  children  that  we  have  ever  read."  —  Leader. 

Six  to  Sixteen.  A  Story  for  Girls.  With  10  Illustrations 
by  Mrs.  ALLINGHAM.  7th  Edition.  i2mo.  $1.00. 


8  MACMILLAN  &    CO:S 

Cheap    Illustrated   Edition.     4to.     In   paper   boards, 
35  cents. 

"  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  Mrs.  Ewing's  book  is  one  of  the 
best  of  the  year."  —  Saturday  Review. 

A  Great  Emergency.  (A  very  Ill-Tempered  Family;  Our 
Field ;  Madame  Liberality.)  With  four  Illustrations.  3d 
Edition.  I2mo.  $1.00. 

Cheap  Illustrated  Edition.     4to.     In  paper  boards,  35 
cents. 

"  Never  has  Mrs.  Ewing  published  a  more  charming  volume  of  stories, 
and  that  is  saying  a  very  great  deal.  From  the  first  to  the  last  the  book 
overflows  with  the  strange  knowledge  of  child-nature  which  so  rarely  sur- 
vives childhood;  and,  moreover,  with  inexhaustible  quiet  humor,  which 
is  never  anything  but  innocent  and  well-bred,  never  priggish,  and  never 
clumsy."  —  Academy. 

Jan  of  the  Windmill.  A  Story  of  the  Plains.  With  11 
Illustrations  by  Mrs.  ALLINGHAM  and  design  on  the  cover. 
5th  Edition.  I2mo.  $1.00. 

Cheap  Illustrated  Edition.     4to.     In  paper  boards,  35 
cents. 

"The  life  and  its  surroundings,  the  incidents  of  Jan's  childhood,  are 
described  with  Mrs.  Ewing's  accustomed  skill;  the  village  schoolmaster, 
the  miller's  wife,  and  the  other  children,  are  extremely  well  done." 

Melchior's  Dream.  (The  Blackbird's  Nest ;  Friedrich's  Bal- 
lad ;  A  Bit  of  Green ;  Monsieur  the  Viscount's  Friend ; 
The  Yew  Lane  Ghosts  ;  A  Bad  Habit ;  A  Happy  Family.) 
With  eight  Illustrations  by  GORDON  BROWNE.  6th  Edi- 
tion. I2mo.  $1.00. 

Cheap  Illustrated  Edition.     4to.     In  paper  wrapper, 
35  cents. 

"  '  Melchior's  Dream '  is  an  exquisite  little  story,  charming  by  original 
humor,  buoyant  spirits,  and  tender  pathos."  —  Athenaum. 

Lob-lie-by-the-fire;  or,  the  Luck  of  Lingborough,  and  Other 
Tales.  With  three  Illustrations  by  GEORGE  CRUIKSHANK. 
4th  Edition.  i6mo.  $1.00. 

"  Mrs.  Ewing  has  written  as  good  a  story  as  her  '  Brownies,'  and  that 
is  saying  a  great  deal.  '  Lob-lie-by-the-fire'  has  humor  and  pathos,  and 
teaches  what  is  right  without  making  children  think  they  are  reading  a 
sermon."  —  Saturday  Review. 

The  Brownies.  (The  Land  of  Lost  Toys;  Three  Christ- 
mas Trees ;  An  Idyl  of  the  Wood ;  Christmas  Crackers  ; 
Amelia  and  the  Dwarfs ;  Timothy's  Shoes ;  Benjy  in 
Beastland.)  Illustrated  by  GEORGE  CRUIKSHANK.  7th 
Edition.  i6mo.  $1.00. 


BOOKS  FOR   THE   YOUNG. 


Cheap   Illustrated   Edition.      Fcap.      4to.      In   paper 
wrapper,  35  cents. 

"  If  a  child  once  begins  '  The  Brownies,'  it  will  get  so  deeply  interested 
in  it  that  when  bedtime  comes  it  will  altogether  forget  the  moral,  and  will 
weary  its  parents  with  importunities  for  just  a  few  minutes  more  to  see  how 
everything  ends."  —  Saturday  Review. 

FREILIGRATH-KROEKER.  Alice,  and  other  Fairy  Plays  for 
Children,  including  a  Dramatised  Version  (under  sanction) 
of  Lewis  Carroll's  "Alice  in  Wonderland,"  and  three 
other  Plays.  By  Mrs.  FREILIGRATH-KROEKER,  with 
eight  original  full-page  Plates.  Cloth,  extra  gilt.  Gilt 
edges.  2d  Edition.  I2mo.  $1.25. 

"They  have  stood  a  practical  ordeal,  and  stood  it  triumphantly."  — 
Times. 

GASKOIN  (Mrs.  H.).  Children's  Treasury  of  Bible  Stories. 
Edited  by  the  Rev.  G.  F.  MACLEAR,  D.D.  i8mo.  Each, 
30  cents. 

Part  I.    Old  Testament. 
II.    New  Testament. 
III.    Three  Apostles  :  St.  James,  St.  Paul,  St.  John. 

GATTY  (Mrs.).     Parables  from  Nature.     With  Illustrations  by 

BURNE-JONES,     HOLMAN    HUNT,     TENNIEL,     WOLF,     and 

others.     Two  Series.     Each,  35  cents. 

GOLDEN  TREASURY  SERIES.  Uniformly  printed  in  i8mo, 
with  Vignette  Titles  by  J.  E.  MILLAIS,  Sir  NOEL  PATON, 

T.  WOOLNER,  W.  HOLMAN  HUNT,  ARTHUR  HUGHES,  etc. 

Engraved  on  Steel.     i8mo.     Cloth.     Each,  $1.00. 
Also  bound  in  half  morocco,  $2.50. 
Half  calf,  $2.50.     Padded  calf,  $3.00. 
Or  beautifully  bound  in  full  morocco,  padded,  solid  gilt  edges, 

in  boxes,  $2.50. 

The  Children's  Garland  from  the  Best  Poets.  Selected  and 
arranged  by  COVENTRY  PATMORE,  with  a  Vignette  by 
T.  WOOLNER. 

"  Mr.  Patmore  deserves  our  gratitude  for  having  searched  through  the 
wide  field  of  English  Poetry  for  these  flowers  which  youth  and  age  can 
equally  enjoy,  and  woven  them  into  'The  Children's  Garland.1  "  —  London 


The  Pilgrim's  Progress,  from  this  World  to  that  which  is 
to  come.  By  JOHN  BUNYAN,  with  a  Vignette  by  W. 
HOLMAN  HUNT. 

"  A  beautiful  and  scholarly  reprint."  —  Spectator. 


10  MACMILLAN  &    CO.'S 

The  Fairy  Book.  The  best  popular  Fairy  Tales.  Selected 
and  rendered  anew  by  the  Author  of  "  John  Halifax,  Gen- 
tleman," with  a  Vignette  by  Sir  NOEL  PATON. 

"  Miss  Mulock  has  the  true  instinct  into  the  secret  of  a  perfect  Fairy 
Tale.  .  .  .  delightful  selection  in  a  delightful  external  form."  —  Spectator. 

The  Adventures  of  Robinson  Crusoe.     Edited  by  J.   W 

CLARK,  M.A.,  with  a  Vignette  by  Sir  J.  E.  MILLAIS. 
"This  cheap  and  pretty  copy,  rigidly  exact  to  the  original,  will  be  a 
prize  to  many  book  buyers."  —  Examiner. 

The  Sunday  Book  of  Poetry  for  the  Young.  Selected  and 
arranged  by  C.  F.  ALEXANDER. 

A  Book  of  Golden  Deeds  of  All  Times  and  All  Countries, 
Gathered  and  Narrated  Anew.  By  the  Author  of  "  The 
Heir  of  Redclyffe." 

Children's  Treasury  of  English  Song.  Edited  by  F.  T 
PALGRAVE. 

Tom  Brown's  School  Days.     By  an  OLD  BOY. 

Lamb's  Tales  from  Shakespeare.  Edited  by  the  Rev.  A 
AINGER. 

GOLDSMITH.  The  Vicar  of  Wakefield.  By  OLIVER  GOLD 
SMITH.  With  182  Illustrations  by  HUGH  THOMSON,  anc 
a  Preface  by  AUSTIN  DOBSON.  Uniform  with  the  Ran 
dolph  Caldecott  Edition  of  Washington  Irving's  "  Brace 
bridge  Hall "  and  "  Old  Christmas."  I2mo.  Cloth  extra 

$2.00. 

"  Mr.  Thomson  hits  the  exact  line  of  humor  which  lies  in  Goldsmith'? 
creations.  His  work  is  refined,  much  of  it  graceful  and  dignified,  but  thf ; 
humor  of  the  situation  never  escapes  him.  The  work  is  English  line  work , 
very  beautiful,  delicate,  and  effective,  with  a  very  perceptible  touch  of  old  • 
time  quality,  life,  and  costume  in  it.  The  volume  itself  is  such  as  lovers  o  i 
good  books  delight  to  hold  in  their  hands."  —  Independent. 

"  A  more  bewitching  bit  of  book  work  has  not  reached  us  for  many  a 
day."  —  New  York  Tribune. 

GREENWOOD.  The  Moon  Maiden,  and  Other  Stories.  By 
JESSY  E.  GREENWOOD.  i2mo.  $1.25. 

"  A  collection  of  brightly  written  and  distinctly  original  stories  in  which 
fairy  lore  and  moral  allegory  are  deftly  and  pleasantly  mingled."  —  Chris- 
tian Union. 

GRIMM'S  Fairy  Tales.  The  Household  Stories.  Translated 
by  LUCY  CRANE,  and  done  into  pictures  by  WALTER 
CRANE.  i2mo.  .$1.25. 


BOOKS  FOR   THE   YOUNG.  11 

HALLWARD  (R.  F.).  Flowers  of  Paradise.  Music  — Verse  — 
Design  —  Illustration.  Printed  in  colors  by  Edmund 
Evans.  Royal  4to.  $2.00. 

"To  our  mind  one  of  the  prettiest  —  if  not  the  prettiest  —  of  this  year's 
picture  books.  The  pages  are  very  Blake-like  in  effect,  the  drawings  har- 
moniously blending  with  the  music  and  words,  and  some  of  the  larger  pic- 
tures are  quite  beautiful  in  thought  and  feeling  as  well  as  in  coloring.  We 
ought  soon  to  hear  of  Mr.  Hallward  again  ;  he  shows  much  promise."  — 
Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

HUGHES.    WORKS  BY  THOMAS  HUGHES. 

Tom  Brown's  School  Days.    New  Illustrated  Edition.     i2mo. 

Cloth.     Gilt.     $1.00     Pocket  Edition,  50  cents.     English 

Edition,  $1.25. 
"  The  most  famous  boy's  book  in  the  language."  —  Daily  News. 

Golden  Treasury  Edition.     i8mo.     $1.00. 

Cheap   Edition.     With    58   Illustrations   by   ARTHUR 
HUGHES  and  S.  P.  HALL.     8vo.     Paper.     25  cents. 

Tom  Brown  at  Oxford.     New  Illustrated  Edition.     I2mo. 
Cloth.     Gilt.     $1.50.     English  Edition.     I2mo.     $1.25. 
"  In  no  other  work  that  we  can  call  to  mind  are  the  finer  qualities  of  the 
English  gentleman  more  happily  portrayed."  —  Daily  News. 
"  A  book  of  great  power  and  truth."  —  National  Review. 

HULLAH  (M.  A.).    Hannah  Tame.    A  Story  for  Girls.    With 

Illustrations.     i6mo.     $1.25. 

KEARY.     WORKS  BY  A.  AND  E.  KEARY. 

The  Heroes  of  Asgard.    Tales  from  Scandinavian  Mythology. 
Illustrated.     i6mo.     $1.00. 

The  Magic  Valley  ;  or,  Patient  Antoine.    With  Illustrations. 

i6mo.     $1.25. 

KINGSLEY.     WORKS  BY  CHARLES  KINGSLEY. 

Madam  How  and  Lady  Why :  First  Lessons  in  Earth  Lore 
for  Children.     $1.00. 
English  Edition,  $1.25. 

The  Heroes  ;  or,  Greek  Fairy  Tales  for  My  Children.    With 

Illustrations.     $1.00. 

English  Edition.     I2mo.     $1.25. 

"  This  lovely  version  of  three  of  the  most  famous  folk  stories  of  the  old 
Greeks."  —  Mail  and  Express. 

"  Ought  to  be  in  the  hands  of  every  child  in  the  country." —  Christian 
Union. 


12  MACMILLAN  <^    CO.'S 

The  Water-Babies :  A  Fairy  Tale  for  a  Land  Baby.     Illus- 
trated.    I2mo.     $1.00. 
English  Edition.     I2mo.     $1.25. 

"  They  have  included  the  admirable  series  of  100  illustrations  by  Mr. 
Linley  Sambourne,  which  have  hitherto  only  been  procurable  in  the  some- 
what expensive  Christmas  edition  of  1885.  It  is  pleasing  to  think  that  Sir 
Richard  Owen  and  Mr.  Huxley  both  survive  to  occupy  the  same  position 
in  the  world  of  science,  which  the  author  assigned  to  "them  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago.  The  artist's  portrait  of  the  two  professors  on 
page  69  is  a  masterpiece."  —  Academy. 

"  They  are  simply  inimitable,  and  will  delight  boys  and  girls  of  mature 
age,  as  well  as  their  juniors.  No  happier  combination  of  author  and  artist 
than  this  volume  presents  could  be  found  to  furnish  healthy  amusement  to 
the  young  folks.  The  book  is  an  artistic  one  in  every  sense."  —  Toronto 
Mail. 

Glaucus ;  or,  The  Wonders  of  the  Seashore.   With  Coloured 

Illustrations.     $2.00. 

LAMB.  Tales  from  Shakespeare.  Edited,  with  Preface,  by 
the  Rev.  A.  AINGER,  M.A.  Golden  Treasury  Series. 
i8mo.  $1.00. 

MACMILLAN.  The  Gate  Beautiful.  Bible  Teachings  for  the 
Young.  By  the  Rev.  HUGH  MACMILLAN,  author  of 
"  Bible  Teachings  from  Nature."  Shortly. 

MADAME  TABBY'S  ESTABLISHMENT.  By  KARL  Illus- 
trated. $1.25. 

MARRYAT'S  (Captain)  BOOKS  FOR  BOYS.  Uniformly 
bound  in  blue  cloth.  8  vols.  Large.  i6mo.  $1.00 
each. 

Masterman  Ready;  or,  The  Wreck  of  the  Pacific.  With 
93  Engravings  on  Wood.  $1.00. 

Poor  Jack.    With  1 6  Illustrations.    22d  Edition.    $1.00. 

The  Mission ;  or,  Scenes  in  Africa.  With  Illustrations  by 
JOHN  GILBERT.  $1.00. 

The  -Settlers  in  Canada.  With  Illustrations  by  GILBERT 
and  DALZIEL.  $1.00. 

The  Privateersman.  Adventures  by  Sea  and  Land  in  Civil 
and  Savage  Life,  One  Hundred  Years  Ago.  With  eight 
Engravings.  $1.00. 

The  Pirate,  and  the  Three  Cutters.  Illustrated  with  eight 
Engravings.  With  a  Memoir  of  the  Author.  $1.00. 


BOOKS  FOR  THE   YOUNG.  13 

Peter  Simple.    With  eight  Full-page  Illustrations.     $1.00. 
Midshipman  Easy.     With  eight  Illustrations.     $1.00. 

MARSHALL.  Winifrede's  Journal.  By  Mrs.  EMMA  MAR- 
SHALL, author  of  "Life's  Aftermath,"  "Mrs.  Willough- 
by's  Octave,"  etc.  With  Illustrations.  I2mo.  Shortly. 

MOLESWORTH.  WORKS  BY  MRS.  MOLESWORTH  (£NNIS 
GRAHAM).  With  Illustrations  by  WALTER  CRANE.  i6mo. 
Uniformly  bound.  $1.00  each  volume. 

Herr  Baby. 

Grandmother  Dear. 

Tell  Me  a  Story. 

The  Cuckoo  Clock. 

The  Tapestry  Room.    A  Child's  Romance. 

A  Christmas  Child :  A  Sketch  of  a  Boy-Life. 

Rosy. 

Two  Little  Waifs. 

Christmas-Tree  Land. 

"  Carrots,"  Just  a  Little  Boy. 

"  Us :  "  An  Old-fashioned  Story. 

Four  Winds  Farm. 

Little  Miss  Peggy.    Only  a  Nursery  Story. 

A  Christmas  Posy. 

The  Rectory  Children. 

The  Children  of  the  Castle. 

Nurse  Heatherdale's  Story.    With  Illustrations  by  L.  LESLIE 
BROOKE.     $1.25. 

"  There  is  no  more  acceptable  writer  for  children  than  Mrs.  Moles- 
worth  . "  —  Literary  World. 

"  No  English  writer  of  stories  for  children  has  a  better  reputation  than 
Mrs.  Molesworth,  and  none  whose  stories  we  are  familiar  with  deserves  it 
better."  —  New  York  Mail  and  Express. 

"  Mistress  of  the  art  of  writing  for  children."  —  Spectator. 

NOEL.  Wandering  Willie.  By  Lady  AUGUSTA  NOEL.  Globe 
8vo.  $1.00. 

OLIPHANT.    Agnes   Hopetown's  School  and  Holidays.     By 

Mrs.  OLIPHANT.     With  Illustrations.     i6mo.     $1.00. 


14  MACMILLAN  &   CO.'S 

PATMORE  (C.) .    The  Children's  Garland  from  the  Best  Poets. 

Selected.     Golden  Treasury  Series.     i8mo.     $1.00. 

PROCTER  (A.  A.).  Legends  and  Lyrics.  By  ADELAIDE 
ANNE  PROCTER.  Original  Edition.  First  Series.  With 
Introduction  by  CHARLES  DICKENS.  67th  Thousand. 
Second  Series.  59th  Thousand.  2  vols.  75  cents  each. 
Also  an  Edition.  4to.  2  Series.  35  cents  each. 
Legends  and  Lyrics.  New  edition  in  one  vol.  With  new 
Portrait  etched  by  C.  O.  MURRAY,  from  a  painting  by 
E.  Gaggiotti  Richards.  i6th  Thousand.  Large  121110. 
Cloth,  gilt  edges,  $1.90. 

RUNAWAY   (THE).     By  the   author  of  "Mrs.  Jerningham's 
Journal."     $1.00. 

RUTH  and  Her  Friends.    A  Story  for  Girls.    With  Illustrations. 

$1.00. 

St.  JOHNSON.     Charlie  Asgarde.     A  Tale  of  Adventure.     By 
ALFRED  ST.  JOHNSON.     With  Illustrations.     $1.50. 

"  Will  not  prevent  boys  from  reading  it  with  keen  interest.  The  inci- 
dents of  savage  life  are  described  from  the  author's  personal  experience, 
and  the  book  is  so  well  written  that  we  may  reasonably  hope  for  something 
of  much  higher  quality  from  Mr.  Johnson's  pen."  —  Academy. 

"Whoever  likes  Robinson  Crusoe  —  and  who  does  not  like  it?  —  is 
pretty  sure  to  like  '  Charlie  Asgarde.'  "  — N.  Y.  Mail  and  Express. 

"  The  story  is  spirited  and  interesting,  full  of  exciting  incidents  and 
situations."  —  Boston  Saturday  Evening  Gazette. 

SPENSER.    Tales  chosen  from  the  Fairie  Queene.    By  SOPHIA 

H.  MACLEHOSE.    $1.25. 

STEPHENSON.    WORKS  BY  MRS.  J.  STEPHENSON. 
Nine  Years  Old.    With  Illustrations.    i6mo.    $1.00. 
Pansie's  Flour  Bin.     Illustrated.     $1.00. 
When  I  was  a  Little  Girl.    Illustrated.    i6mo.    $1.00. 

When  Papa  comes  Home.     The  Story  of  Tip,  Tap,  Toe. 

Illustrated.    $1.25. 

STEWART.    The  Tale  of  Troy.    Done  into  English  by  AUBREY 

STEWART.     i6mo.    $1.00. 

"  We  are  much  pleased  with  '  The  Tale  of  Troy,'  by  Aubrey  Stewart. 
.  .  .  The  Homeric  legend  is  given  in  strong,  simple,  melodious  English, 
which  sometimes  leaves  one  in  doubt  as  to  the  distinction  between  poetry 
and  prose.  .  .  .  While  the  story  delights  them,  it  will  ennoble  and  strengthen 
their  minds,  and  the  form  in  which  it  is  rendered  will  teach  them  that  love, 
which,  for  an  American,  should  lie  deep  in  his  heart,  —  the  love  of  good 
English."  —  Independent. 


BOOKS  FOR   THE   YOUNG.  15 

TIM.     A  Story  of  School  Life.     i2mo.     Cloth.     $1.00. 

WARD.  A  Pair  of  Originals.  By  E.  WARD,  Author  of  "  Fresh 
from  the  Fens."  With  Illustrations.  I2mo.  $1.25. 

WARD.  Milly  and  Oily ;  or,  A  Holiday  among  the  Moun- 
tains. BY  Mrs.  HUMPHRY  WARD.  Illustrated  by  Mrs. 
ALMA-TADEMA.  i6mo.  $1.00. 

WHITE  (GILBERT).  Natural  History  and  Antiquities  of  Sel- 
borne.  New  Edition,  with  a  Poem  and  Letters  never 
before  Published.  Edited  by  FRANK  BUCKLAND.  With 
Illustrations.  $1.75. 

WILLOUGHBY.  Fairy  Guardians.  By  F.  WILLOUGHBY.  Illus- 
trated. $1.25. 

WILSON.  The  Five  Gateways  of  Knowledge.  By  GEORGE 
WILSON,  M.D.,  F.R.S.E.  i6mo.  Cloth.  50  cents. 

YONGE.  WORKS  OF  CHARLOTTE  M.  YONGE.  Uniform  Edition 
of  the  Tales.  I2mo.  Cloth.  $i.ooeach. 

The  Heir  of  Redclyife.     Illustrated. 

Heartsease ;  or,  The  Brother's  Wife.     Illustrated. 

Hopes  and  Fears.     Illustrated. 

Dynevor  Terrace.     Illustrated. 

The  Daisy  Chain.     Illustrated. 

The  Trial :  More  Links  of  the  Daisy  Chain.     Illustrated. 

Pillars  of  the  House  ;  or,  Under  Wode  Under  Rode.    2  vols. 

Illustrated. 

The  Young  Stepmother.     Illustrated. 

The  Clever  Woman  of  the  Family.     Illustrated. 

The  Three  Brides.     Illustrated. 

My  Young  Alcides.     Illustrated. 

The  Caged  Lion.     Illustrated. 

The  Dove  in  the  Eagle's  Nest.    Illustrated. 

The  Chaplet  of  Pearls.     Illustrated. 

Lady  Hester,  and  the  Danvers  Papers.     Illustrated. 

Magnum  Bonum.     Illustrated. 

Lovo  and  Life.     Illustrated. 


16       MACMILLAN  6-  CO.'S  BOOKS  FOR   THE   YOUNG. 

Unknown  to  History.  A  Story  of  the  Captivity  of  Mary  of 
Scotland. 

Stray  Pearls.  Memoirs  of  Margaret  de  Ribaumont,  Vis- 
countess of  Belaise. 

The  Armourer's  'Prentices. 

The  Two  Sides  of  the  Shield. 

Nuttie's  Father. 

Scenes  and  Characters  ;  or,  Eighteen  Months  at  Beechcroft. 

Chantry  House. 

A  Modern  Telemachus. 

Beechcroft  at  Rockstone. 

Womankind.    A  Book  for  Mothers  and  Daughters. 

A  Reputed  Changeling ;  or,  Three  Seventh  Years,  Two  Cen- 
turies Ago. 

The  Two  Penniless  Princesses.  A  Story  of  the  Time  of 
James  I.  of  Scotland. 

That  Stick.     Shortly. 

The  Population  of  an  Old  Pear  Tree ;  or,  Stories  of  Insect 
Life.  From  the  French  of  E.  Van  Bruysel.  With  Illus- 
trations. New  Edition.  i6mo.  $1.00. 

A  Book  of  Worthies :  Gathered  from  the  Old  Histories  and 
Written  Anew.  Golden  Treasury  Series.  i8mo.  $1.00. 

The  Story  of  the  Christians  and  Moors  in  Spain.  With 
Vignette.  Golden  Treasury  Series.  i8mo.  $1.00. 

The  Prince  and  the  Page :  A  Tale  of  the  Last  Crusade. 
Illustrated.  New  Edition.  Globe  8vo.  $1.00. 

P's  and  Q's ;  or,  The  Question  of  Putting  Upon.  With 
Illustrations.  Globe  8 vo.  $1.00. 

The  Lances  of  Lynwood.     With  Illustrations.     Globe  8vo. 

$1.00. 

Little  Lucy's  Wonderful  Globe.  With  Illustrations.  Globe 
8vo.  $1.00. 

The  Little  Duke.    With  Illustrations.     Globe  8 vo.    $1.00. 
A  Storehouse  of  Stories.     Edited  by  C.  M.  YONGE.     Series 
I  and  2.     i6mo.     Each,  $1.00. 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY, 

-66    FIFTH   AVENUE,  NEW   YORK. 


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